Career cues
Evaluating the key factors influencing women's career choices and job selection
69% of salaried women rank career advancement and competitive salaries as the topmost factors while selecting a job, while 42% of self-employed women prioritise independence and flexible working hours.
More unmarried women (79%) favour career growth and competitive salaries compared with their married counterparts (66%). About 14% of married women rank work-life balance as a top factor while selecting a job compared with 6% of unmarried women. The importance of pay as a top factor declines with age, with 34% of those aged 25-35 years prioritising competitive salaries compared with 15% of those over 45 years.
Topmost factors influencing women's career choices and job selection
Topmost factors influencing job selection, by marital status
Workplace challenges
Examining key challenges faced by salaried women
The findings corroborate industry views on persistent gender disparities in the workplace, revealing that the perceived gender pay gap at a pan-India level stood at 23% among salaried women, while perceived gender bias stood at 16%. Semi-affluent women, earning between ₹10 to 25 lakhs annually, and affluent women, with salaries ranging from ₹41 to 55 lakhs per year, have varying perspectives on the gender pay gap.
Affluent women reported a higher perception of the gender pay gap at 30%, while this stood at 18% among semi-affluent women. A similar trend was seen with the perception of gender bias at the workplace with 30% of affluent women asserting that they had experienced it, significantly higher than the 12% of women in the semi-affluent cohort who had perceived the same bias.
Lifestyle preferences of female earners in India's metros
Personas of women surveyed
66%
Health enthusiasts
Women who have undergone health checkups in the past year
35%
Avid explorers
Women who took more than three leisure trips in the past year
47%
Generous spenders
Women who spend more than 70% of their income
Note: The percentages indicate the proportion of the total surveyed women. Additionally, these percentages are not mutually exclusive.
Health enthusiasts
Exploring women's choices regarding health and wellness
Female earners in Indian metros prioritise health despite their busy schedules, with 66% undergoing comprehensive health check-ups in the past year. Just 24% spend more than four hours daily on non-office screen time. Also, only 32% of women dine out or order food more than once a week.
The inclination to dine out or order food declines with age. While 36% women in the 25-35-year age group eat out or order food more than once a week, only 22% over 45 have a similar tendency.
Percentage of women who dine out/order food
Variations in the time spent by women on screens outside of work hours
76%
< 4 Hours
24%
> 4 Hours
Avid explorers
Delving into the preferences of women who prioritise leisure travel
Of the married women, 32% took 3-5 leisure trips in the past year, twice the percentage of their unmarried counterparts. As many as 83% of unmarried women without dependants took leisure trips in the past year, compared with 100% of those with dependants.
The avid explorers are more likely to order food or eat out. While 32% of women across India order food or eat out more than four times a month, this rises to 47% among avid explorers.
Generous spenders
Analysing the lifestyles of women with higher spends in discretionary categories
Nearly half of the surveyed women (47%) were generous spenders, who spend more than 70% of their income. Of the women in this segment, 39% have high credit card spends in discretionary categories, namely travel and shopping, compared with the pan-India average of 33%.
Geographic variations are evident in the leisure trips taken by generous spenders. In the south, 47% of these generous spenders in Bengaluru have taken more than three leisure trips in the past year, compared with 15% in Hyderabad. In the north, 38% of such women in Delhi have taken more than three leisure trips. In the west, 50% of generous spenders in Mumbai have taken more than three leisure trips, compared with 30% in Ahmedabad. In the east, 55% of women in Kolkata from this cohort have taken more than three leisure trips.
Generous spenders who took more than three leisure trips in the past one year
Delhi
Ahmedabad
Mumbai
Kolkata
Hyderabad
Bengaluru