For women, South Indian states are better than their North counterparts says Avtar report

• According to a report by Avtar Group, cities from South India dominate the list of top cities for women in India.
  
• Chennai topped the first category (cities with a population of 1 million plus), with a city inclusion score of 78.41.
  
• In the less than a million category also, the top 5 cities belong to the state of Tamil Nadu.
  

South Indian states have dominated the list of top cities for women in terms of city inclusion, broadly comprising ease of living, safety, inclusive organisations, and inclusive industries, according to a report by Avatar Group. The cities from Tamil Nadu emerged at top in both categories — cities with more than a million population and less than a million population.

As per Avtar, the United Nations (UN) has defined women-friendly cities as those that provide the access to health, education, employment opportunities, comprehensive urban, social services, and a safe environment to the women population.

Chennai topped the list in the first category, with a city inclusion score (CIS) of 78.41, followed by Pune and Bengaluru, as per Top Cities for Women in India report.

The city inclusion score is a composite of the social inclusion score (SIS) and industrial inclusion score (IIS). The Social Inclusion Score (SIS) comprises social factors contributing to making a city women-friendly. Industrial Inclusion Score (IIS) evaluates the extent to which organisations in the city across industries are inclusive of women.

Top cities for women in Category 1 (more than a million population)

Source: Avatar report

Other than Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai from Tamil Nadu also made it to the top 10 on the list. It is interesting to note that even in the less than a million category, the top five cities belong to the state of Tamil Nadu – Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Erode, Salem and Tiruppur, in that order.

“This is a clear indication that the cities in the state fare comparatively better on livability. The impact of the same could have permeated to the current index, along with the added effect of the industrial centers that these cities which employ numerous women, putting them on top of the list,” said the report.

The National Capital, Delhi, however, did not make it to the top 10 list - ranking at the 14th position with the CIS at 41.36, more than 30 points less than the top city.

In the list of ‘State Averages of City Inclusion Score’, Kerala emerged on top with the highest state average of 55.67. Interestingly, among the top five states with the highest average, three are from South India- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. The other two states are Maharashtra (from the West) and Himachal Pradesh (from the North).

Even while comparing the average scores of each region, the report found that the Southern region emerged on top closely followed by the West. According to the report, Southern region scored an average of 46.17, West scored 41.13. North Indian cities came third with an average of 36.03, followed by the Central region at 31.17 and East at 29.43.

Out of the 111 cities included in the study, only 47 of them were found to be above the national average of 37.75. However, smaller cities fared better than metros, with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities (which make up the less than a million category cities) having comparatively higher scores for averages.

“The fact that the South and West regions are more women-friendly in terms of employment 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,” said Saundarya Rajesh, founder – president, Avtar Group.

SEE ALSO:
Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad among top 10 Indian cities for women for city inclusion: Avtar
India only reached halfway on its digital journey: Nandan Nilekani