Hyderabad is fourth most women-friendly city in country

HYDERABAD: With a City Inclusion Score of 62.47, Hyderabad ranks fourth in the list of Top 25 women-friendly cities having more than one million population. A study conducted by Avatar Group, a diversity, equity & inclusion solutions firm released on Thursday highlights Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai as the most inclusive cities of India.

The study titled, Top Cities for Women in India, a culmination of a year-long exercise, is an algorithmic assimilation of data from over 200 sources including current ease of living index, Periodic Labour Force Survey, national census, crime records, National Family and Health Survey, Ministry of Women & Child Development’s annual report, the International Monetary Fund, as well as Avtar’s primary research with employer organisations and women, to arrive at a comprehensive City Inclusion Score (CIS).

The CIS is a composite of Social Inclusion Score that includes quality of life, women’s safety, women’s representation in the workforce and women’s empowerment initiatives and Industrial Inclusion Score that is based on inclusive organisations, inclusive industries and career enablers.

The United Nations (UN) has defined women-friendly cities as those that provide women the access to health, education, employment opportunities, comprehensive urban, social services, and a safe environment. Women-friendly cities are also defined as those where local governments are conscious of women’s issues and perspectives in their planning and decision-making processes.

Tamil Nadu promises holistic growth for women with eight cities among top 10 cities for women in India in both the categories. Kerala emerged on top in the State Averages of City Inclusion Score. Cities in south India dominate the top cities for women in India.

Speaking at the launch of the study, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, founder and president, Avtar Group said, “The fact that the south and west regions are more women-friendly is not a surprise, given the politico-historic context of these regions. The rise of cities like Hubli, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, and Coimbatore as promising hubs of women’s employment, due to their high Industrial Inclusion scores is very heartening. Metros like Delhi and Kolkata have fallen behind in terms of social inclusion due to lower standards of safety and poor enablers for women to pursue employment.”

Social & industrial inclusion

The Social and Industrial Inclusion Scores of Hyderabad have been marked as 56.1 and 79.97 respectively. Notably, it is the most inclusive city in the southern region after Chennai and Bengaluru. Along with Hyderabad, Warangal is the only city in Telangana considered in this study with other 110 cities across the nation. Warangal has secured the 16th position in Category 2 (cities having less than 1 million population) and its City Inclusion Score is 46.28.