Gender Pay Gap in India: A Case Study

Running Head: CASE STUDY: GENDER PAY GAP IN INDIA
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Running Head: CASE STUDY: GENDER PAY GAP IN INDIA
Abstract
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the managing director of Biocon India earns 18 crore rupees per
annum as a remuneration. We can find many more faces like her in the corporate corridors
very easily. However, when we check the salary structures of the executive level female
workers in India we find that most of them are underpaid in comparison with their male
counterparts. According to a study done in the year 2013, the wage difference between male
and female workers working under similar capacities is around 24 percent (Agrwal, 2017).
This figure reflects a huge gender pay gap in India. From a macroeconomic point of view,
this gender pay gap also reflects the fact that the direct participation of women in the Indian
economy is less. This fact can be considered as a barrier against the growth of the economy in
a country where 48 percent of the population is female. In the current report, we are exploring
this underperformance of the women in the Indian economy from the perspective of the
gender pay gap which is prevailing in India.
Background of the problem and its current status
The latest monetary sales index (MSI) associated with the gender gap in India gives us a
figure that females are earning 19 percent fewer wages in comparison with the males
(Bhattacharya 2019).
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Running Head: CASE STUDY: GENDER PAY GAP IN INDIA
Image 1: The median difference between the male and female salaries calculated by wage
indicator foundation. Retrieved from
https://www.business-standard.com/article/management/gender-pay-gap-in-india-at-27-
monster-salary-index-116051700807_1.html
This figure is only a symbol because the scope of this finding is confined to the organized
sector only. The unorganized sectors of the Indian economy can present a different picture
altogether where the ratio of this gender gap may be much higher. While having a systematic
look at the major publications covering this issue, we figured out that the issue of the gender
pay gap is dependent on certain demographical and social factors. This systematic literature
review of more than 50 trusted industry sources and peer-reviewed studies also gave us an
idea that the genesis of this problem may have its root in the social structure of the society.
Prior to the study the problem on a sociological platform we would like to supply another
fact, the gender pay increases as we move ahead in the ladder of skilled professionals. The
MSI index of last five years gives us a figure that the gender pay gap in the highly skilled
sections of the industry is thirty percent. This staggering number forces us to conceive a
hypothesis that goes asunder.
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