Time has come for men in power to create level-playing field for women, says former PepsiCo CEO
Mar 02, 2022
New Delhi [India], March 2 : Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, on Wednesday said that the time has come for the men in power to come forward to create a level-playing field to promote gender parity for women.
Delivering the keynote address at an event organised by Ananta Centre on the theme of "The Levelling towards an ungendered world", Nooyi said, "The time has come for the men in power to come to the table and say we want to create a level-playing field because we are short of talent. Once we bring them in, why do we discriminate against them? Men in power have to be held accountable. Human Resource policy did not say exclude women. It is Human Resources that means everybody. "
"Are we treating all the talent we have as equal? Are we giving them an opportunity to contribute? If we don't do that, we will have a talent shortage, we deserve to fall back," she added.
Talking about the maternity leaves for women, the former CEO noted that having kids is a "service to the society".
She also emphasised that companies should not deny jobs to women having children as it will deprive the corporates from having the best talent.
"Why do we have to say if a guy has to step out, it's ok but if a girl has to step out to do essential work for the country, but to have kids is not. Having kids is a big responsibility. You are doing a service to the country because it needs young people," she said while advocating that employees embrace gender diversity at work and the benefits of incorporating both male and female perspectives into workplace programs and projects which makes an ideal work environment.
Urging corporates to recruit without gender bias, she said, "If you think it that way, you will give her the time to take off some time and come back and reintegrate into the company. It is a human issue and not a political issue. We have to think about what's best for the country."
Rama Kirloskar, Joint MD, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, Anuradha Razdan, Executive Director HR and Vice president HR, Unilever South Asia, Sunil Khurana, COO JCB India Ltd also attended the event.
