Data reveals gender imbalance in Nagaland’s government workforce

July 3, 2024 21 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Kohima | July 3

Nagaland has recently celebrated a significant milestone in its journey towards gender equality, with the election of two women legislators in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) after six long decades of statehood.

This was further bolstered by the just concluded election to the Urban Local Bodies with 33% reservation for women with 102 women being elected, including eight from unreserved seats.

However, an analysis of the gender composition across various government departments in the state reveals a trend of persistent gender disparity, particularly in leadership roles and administrative positions.

Source: Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Nagaland; As of 13.05.2024.

According to the data obtained from the Department of Personnel & Administrative reforms (P&AR), the representation of women in key positions and decision-making roles remains significantly low within the state government structure as well.

The data clearly indicates a gender disparity across various levels of Nagaland’s government departments. (See chart)

Only 10% of women in leadership roles
Nagaland has a total of 63 departments led by directorates, out of which 53 (84%) are headed by men and only 10 (16%) by women as heads of department, displaying the gender imbalance at the top levels of departmental leadership.

The disparity is also evident among administrative heads of departments (AHoDs) wherein out of 39, 30 are male (77%) and just 9 are female (23%).

Also, in the cadre of Deputy Commissioners (DCs), the gender gap widens further with 15 being male (94%) and only 1 female (6%) out of 16 DCs across the state.

Workforce composition
The distribution of male and female employees within the Group ‘A’ category also reflects a significant gender disparity where out of a total of 5355 employees, 3587 are male (67%) and 1768 are female (33%).

Within the Nagaland Civil Services (NCS) officers, the representation of women is somewhat higher, but still considerably lower than that of men as out of the 286 officers, 206 are male (72%) and 80 are female (28%).

Wind of change?
On the query if the compositions of jobs are changing over the recent years, there were mixed response from government officials The Morung Express interacted with.

One noted that there have been some changes in the workforce, with some women entering the work sector. Another pointed out that there has been a considerable shift in the men-to-women ratio, indicating a larger presence of women in the workforce when compared to the composition of the past, specifically in the 80s, 90s and thereafter in the 2000s.

On being asked if there are any barriers at the entry level for women appearing for relevant exams as compared to the past since high-ranking positions in the government sector are routed through normal promotion cycle, the government officers responded that there is no such barrier in any entry level exams.

An NCS officer observed that while girl students are performing better than boy students academically in the last 2 decades, ‘we’ are yet to see this pattern translate into jobs and policy making positions.

“There appears to be a cultural conditioning where girls are oriented to focus on getting married and settling down after studies or opting for less demanding careers,” she viewed. However, with more women getting through competitive exams in recent years, the NCS officer said “there appears to be a slight shift in attitude where girls are being encouraged and groomed to compete for careers that are male dominated.”

“It could be a reflection of a generation having fewer children and giving equal opportunities to both sons and daughters,” she pointed out.

“There is no gender discrimination as far as recruitment is concerned, maybe it’s a matter of choice,” said another.

To a query what are/could be the reasons as to why there are fewer women in the government sector, the NCS officer viewed that while there is a huge shift in the numbers of women getting employed into the government sector, and very few are getting into jobs that impact policies.

A huge percentage, she said is employed in the teaching profession and ministerial positions. To this end, she emphasised on the crucial need for more women to get into decision-making positions which will impact the progress of women in particular and society in general.