The 'Women In Labour' Podcast: Businessman Anant Ahuja on making workspaces friendlier for women

Since 2005, the percentage of Indian women in paid work has dropped from 35 per cent to less than 24 per cent, but no one is talking about why. Till we did, and Women in Labour was born (pun intended).

A comedic take on a serious issue, the Women In Labour podcast explores topics related to women, work, family, power, and everything in between. Why do Indian women do the most unpaid work in the world? What’s stopping us from finding our inner boss? Why do we preface our work emails with “I was just wondering…”? And the big one — what’s keeping us away from India’s workplaces?

We — Aditi Mittal and Christina MacGillivray — converse with a roster of guests on our podcast in an attempt to answer these questions.

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Episode 12 | ‘Making Workspaces Work for Women’

India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate is at an all-time low across industries except for just one — garment manufacturing. In fact, the garment sector is made up of more than 50 per cent of women workers. While some factories rely on exploitative practices to maximise profit, Anant Ahuja, Head of Organisational Development at Shahi Exports believes that the well-being of female workers lies at the heart of successful businesses.

Tune into this week’s episode to find out how this young entrepreneur is making workspaces work for women — not the other way around

Anant Ahuja is the Head of Organisational Development (OD) at Shahi Exports, India’s largest apparel manufacturer employing over 100,000 people. Started by his grandmother in 1975, Shahi has always placed the employment and advancement of women at the core of its business. Since 2012, Anant has been spearheading positive change across the business through innovation and strategy to align the company’s growth with the development of people, communities, and the environment. His belief that the private sector is a critical lever for development and sustainability led him to start Good Business Lab (GBL), a labour innovation start-up that uses research to find common ground between worker wellbeing and business interests. Through his change management work at Shahi and the evidence-based approach at GBL, Anant wants to change the way businesses operate.

Listen to the episode here.