“At Maersk, we are constantly strengthening our efforts in the area of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). We also realise that in the larger DEI picture, gender diversity is a low-hanging fruit that can be addressed as long as there is a strong will to do so,” Vikash Agarwal, managing director, Maersk South Asia, said in a press release.

“While expanding our warehouses across the country, we wanted to create opportunities for women in a traditionally male-dominated sector. As per the 2021 census, Dadri has only 6 per cent working women of its total population, and our team on the ground had a strong desire to contribute towards a change in that respect. The 84 women have joined a total workforce of 350 employees at our Dadri CFS, and we are hugely motivated to improve the gender representation at the facility further,” he added.

When the doors to the new warehouse in Dadri opened on September 23, 2022, there were 84 women ready to run the facility by taking charge of every task — from security and housekeeping to operating forklifts, handling cargo, operating computers, working on Tally jobs, and managing clerical work. But creating employment for all these women was not a task achieved overnight.

The journey began in January 2022 when the existing team at the Dadri CFS started having a dialogue with local contracting agencies to build a case for women to be trained and offered employment in the upcoming new warehouse. Much deliberation later, the on-ground teams realised that the biggest challenge was convincing the families of the women to let them come and work in a warehouse.

By March 2022, the teams started approaching the families of potential women candidates to counsel them about the benefits for the women who would work at the Maersk warehouse. Once the families were convinced about the safety of the women, hygienic working conditions, and fair opportunities, the organisational design was drawn, and workforce requirements were charted, added the release.

While some women could take up unskilled and semiskilled jobs immediately, others had to undergo skilling that involved operating Material Handling Equipment (MHE) such as reach trucks and forklifts. During April and May, the institute and trainers were identified to undertake the training for these women in specialised tasks. After much preparation, these women started receiving their training from July onwards.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)