Diversity, equity and inclusion consulting firm Avtar recently released a report named Top Cities for Women In India, ranking 111 big and small Indian cities based on their social and industrial inclusivity for women. The cities were ranked according to the city inclusion score (CIS) which was an average of the social inclusion score (SIS) and industrial inclusion score (SIS) for each city. The study ranked only nine cities above 50 as per the score. More alarmingly, Indian cities showed an average score of just 37.75 out of 100 as per the report. “This is a clear indication that there is a lot of room for improvement for the majority of the cities across the country,” says the report.
Chennai in Tamil Nadu scored the highest among all cities with a CIS of 78.41, followed by Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai, all scoring above 60 in the same order. Amongst the list of big cities, some cities that ranked lowest were Ranchi, Guwahati, Patna and Dhanbad, all scoring well below the national average.
When it came to the small cities, i.e. cities with a population of less than one million, five Tamil Nadu cities scored the highest- Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Erode, Salem and Tiruppur in that order. All these cities scored well above 60. Amongst the lowest in the small cities were Kavaratti, Muzaffarpur, Satna, Rampur and Bhagalpur with scores below 20.
The southern region emerged with the highest score overall, followed by the Western region with an average of 46.17 and 41.13 respectively. The West was followed by the North with an average of 36.03, followed by the central region at 31.17 and finally by the east at 29.43, all below the national average score of 37.75.
The report used parameters like the Ease of Living Report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affair, the Crime in India report by the National Crime Records Bureau, the Periodic Labour Force Survey and Census documents, women empowerment initiatives undertaken by state governments, the density of gender-inclusive organisations, industries and career enablers and mental health consultation services to reach its scores.
Image used for representational purposes only.