Chennai is top city for social, industrial inclusion of women

CHENNAI: Chennai is the 'top city for women in India' as per a study released by diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) firm Avtar Group on Thursday. The study ranked 111 cities based on their social and industrial inclusion parameters towards nurturing a conducive ecosystem for women.Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Coimbatore, and Madurai are the top 10 cities for women in India among 'category 1" cities with a population of more than one million. Similarly, Trichy, Vellore, Erode, Salem, Tirupur, Puducherry, Shimla, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, and Belagavi emerged as the top 10 cities in category 2 cities with a population of less than one million. Interestingly, the national capital Delhi secured 30 points less than the highest-ranked city (Chennai). Delhi came in 14th among category 1 cities.In an indication of holistic growth, eight Tamil Nadu cities emerged in the list of top cities for women in India across both categories of cities analysed. However, Kerala with a score of 55.67 emerged as the state with the highest average score, followed by Tamil Nadu at 54.4 and Maharashtra at 45.5. Tamil Nadu's cities fare comparatively better on livability; the impact of the same permeates to the overall inclusion along with the added effect of these cities employing numerous women, thus putting them on top of the list, Avtar's study notes. Saundarya Rajesh, founder and president, Avtar Group said that the rise of cities like Hubali, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, and Coimbatore as hubs of women's employment, due to their high industrial inclusion scores is heartening. "It is imperative that we look at the problem of low representation of women in India as not only something to be solved by corporates, but also as a goal for the state," she adds.The study analysed data from over 200 sources including ease of living index, national census, crime records, NFHS, IMF, and primary research, to arrive at a 'City Inclusion Score' that is a composite of Social Inclusion Score (SIS) and Industrial Inclusion Store (IIS). While SIS comprises social factors like quality of life, women's safety, women's representation in the workforce and women's empowerment initiatives, IIS evaluates the extent to which organisations in the city are inclusive of women.