Things for the queer community in India have changed for the better ever since section 377 was decriminalized by the Supreme Court in Septemeber 2018. People have now started celebrating the love that is boundless of gender in the country. The society is on its way to get rid of the taboo of homosexuality, gradually.
Adding to the list of progressive steps taken towards bridging the gap between the LGBTQ community and the society, Mumbai is all set to witness its very first job fair that will help job-seekers from the LGBTQ community match with companies. While the world celebrates Pride Month in June, some LGBTQIA+ activists have initiated ‘Vivivdh’ by 6 Degrees, a job fair that helps companies enhance their manpower by finding efficient candidates irrespective of their sexual preferences.
Praful Baweja, the co-founder of 6 degrees describes their initiative Vividh as “not a job fair, but a diversity fair”. “Ever since the decriminalization of Section 377, the question was, ‘what next?’ What can we do to further strengthen vulnerable groups and communities?, Praful muses.
“So far, we had been concentrating on making the queer people in India visible. It involved encouraging people to embrace their sexuality, coming out to parents, etc. But now, it’s time to start talking about acceptability in tangible terms,” he added. He believes that Vividh will help people from LGBTQ community to get equal access to education and jobs which many companies in the market have assured to offer but failed.
According to News18, equal rights activist Harish Iyer believes that it’s time corporate organizations realize that “diversity is the strength, not weakness”.
“They have put up their TV advertisements, they have shared posters on social media,” Iyer said. “Let’s hope they will also take to this initiative that actually looks at improving equal rights for all in the workplace,” he added.
Going by the facts and data, a 2013 Deloitte study found that “when employees think their organization is committed to, and supportive of diversity and they feel included, employees report better business performance in terms of ability to innovate (83% increase) responsiveness to changing customer needs (31% uplift) and team collaboration (42% increase).”
Almost 5-10% of Indian Inc workforce consists of people belonging to the LGBTQ community. 56% of them have complained about facing criticism and discrimination in the workplace. It’s high time India Inc., realizes the importance of diversity in its workforce.
Executive Director of the Lalit Suri Hospitality Group that owns the Lalit chain of hotels, had earlier said, “Even foreign companies tend to not follow through on their standard diversity policies in India due to a lack of focused laws.” Suri has been actively working towards bringing in diversity and inclusion policies at the workplace since years and several companies such as Tata have followed suit.
According to a report by the World Bank in 2016 India was losing $32 billion, or 1.7 percent of its GDP due to homophobia, in terms of wages lost and health cost. Another report by 2018 McKinsey & Company in 2017 found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21 percent more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile.
Diversity as far as the queer community is concerned has a long way to go. “This is just the beginning, the larger goal is to bring in inclusion to a degree where being different is not a flaw or disadvantage anymore,” Iyer said.
Vividh is all set to be held on July 28 in Mumbai. The organizers claim that several companies have shown interest in the event so far. Further details about the event will be confirmed later.
We hope that this fair helps the LGBTQ community to find equal opportunities in the corporate world soon!