A gap in gender equality

There are very few companies in India which offers childcare. As more and more women get into the work force, it becomes extremely difficult to juggle a career and raising a family. That’s probably why some of the largest tech companies of the world, provide this unique facility.

We are talking about childcare now because a huge controversy has erupted in Amazon where a group of 1800 employees, calling themselves the “Momazonians” asked chief, Jeff Bezos to provide them with backup daycare benefits. The group argued that “a lack of day care support can derail the careers of talented women who otherwise might be promoted to more senior jobs.” Back-up childcare can contribute to lessening the workforce gender gap, given that a lack of childcare is a major reason why women leave the workplace.

Amazon as such offers maternity leave and paternal benefits. The paid leave can be shared with a partner who doesn’t get paid leave from their own employer, and parents can slowly ramp up their return to the office to make the transition easier. 

Salesforce, Intel, and Netflix all offer cover 10 days of backup care per year. Among the “Big Five” - Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft), Amazon, which is the 2nd largest private sector employer in USA is the only one that doesn’t.

Microsoft offer its US employees 150 hours of subsidized back-up childcare and elder care per year . Google provides its employees in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Japan, and Australia 10 subsidized days of either in-center or in-home backup childcare per calendar year. 

And even the most generous family policies pale in comparison to countries with federally mandated paid time-off policies or high-quality universal childcare, like the UK and Canada. 

In India? That’s a big void….