Sri City ushers in rapid strides in women empowerment

Tirupati: Sri City, which has emerged as one of the global manufacturing centres in the country, has set a good example of gender diversity. Out of the 52,000 people who are directly or indirectly employed in the industrial hub, more than half are women. During the last 15 years, Sri City has been at the forefront of utilising 'women power' on the shop floors across its manufacturing industries, totalling over 205 hailing from 28 different countries across the world. The shop floors of various industries are now dominated by women from varied backgrounds.

Young women who studied up to Class 10, despite having no skills and engaged in agriculture, housework, etc., could find employment in Sri City and demonstrated their ability in new ways. Women are proving that they can compete with men in every sector including security jobs.

"It was a bold experiment and we are happy for its success and for creating impact. Today, over 50 per cent of the workforce of Sri City is women, hailing from different parts of AP. Thus, Sri City is referred to as 'Sthree City' (Women's city)," said MD Dr Ravindra Sannareddy.

He added that the large women community in the region, particularly the employees of industries and students of Krea University, IFMR and IIIT feel safe because of the confidence created by the local police and district administration.

Some industries in Sri City, such as Pals Plush, Mondelez, Kellogg's, Everton Tea, MSR Garments, KGI Clothing, Unicharm, Colgate Palmolive, Alstom, Blue Star, Zen Linen and several more, have a large women workforce, ranging between 40 to 95 per cent. Women are put in various roles such as supervisors, shop floor engineers, planners, etc., There is no pay gap and all responsibilities are equally distributed to the employees.

All the companies in Sri City provide a safe and secure working environment. Some of the proactive measures taken to support women in the workplace include provision of a medical centre and creche for young mothers, provision of company hostels nearer to the plants with pick up and drop facilities.

In theh socio-economic surveys and studies conducted by Prof Srinivasulu Reddy of SV University in September 2021 and by Aradhana Agarwal of Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, in December 2021, it was found that the advent of Sri City made a predominantly positive impact in terms of economic empowerment of women who are employed there in large numbers and have the satisfaction of contributing to the families' income.

A woman employee Prasanna Kumari felt that Sri City is a boon for women workforce. After completing her MBA, she joined as an HR executive in an industry in Sri City and later moved to MSR Garments six years ago and now became HR manager.