According to a World Bank report on Female Labour Force Participation, India stands at the 121^st position out of 131 countries. In another global survey conducted by the leading assurance, tax, and advisory firm Grant Thorton, it was found that only 17% of leadership roles are held by women in India.

These statistics clearly indicate that the Indian economy is lopsided in terms of gender equality at workplaces. What could be the reasons for lower workforce participation of women in India? Is it about patriarchal society, career breaks due to marriage and maternity, lack of women-friendly policies, unavailability of equal opportunities and pay, biased hiring practices or probably a mix of all these factors?

The low participation of women is visible across all sectors, including the Fintech industry. While the fintech sector continues to grow by leaps and bounds, there are still a very few female professionals and leaders in this space.

Highlighting his views on this subject, Manish Lunia, the co-founder of FlexiLoans, says that the severe underrepresentation of women, especially in leadership roles is very much noticeable in the fintech industry. Finance and technology have been traditionally and predominantly male-driven sectors. The cultural biases which have categorized women and men in stereotype roles are a major factor that contributes to the gender gap.

In his views, the fintech companies can break these biases by redefining their hiring processes, right from job descriptions to interview structure. At FlexiLoans, the management embeds the power of diversity in its culture. It provides flexibility and other benefits at work to attract more female talent.

Read more about Manish’s take on this trend here.