By Shailesh Yadav

Gurugram (Haryana) [India], March 27 (ANI): ANI visited Maruti Suzuki's sprawling manufacturing facilities at Gurugram and Manesar today, and noticed something that was once a rare sight on any Indian automobile shopfloor, women, working alongside men, assembling engines, fitting instrument panels, and overseeing production quality.

It is a quiet but significant shift, and one that India's largest carmaker says is very much by design.

At present, over 190 women are employed on Maruti Suzuki's shopfloors across its Gurugram and Manesar plants. They are not in peripheral roles. These women work hands-on in production quality control, instrument panel sub-assembly, rear door sub-assembly, transmission assembly, and engine assembly lines , including the technically demanding K and Z series engine units.

Rahul Bharti, Senior Executive Officer at Maruti Suzuki, said the company's ambition goes beyond meeting a headcount target. 'Our goal is not just numbers. We want to create a genuinely inclusive environment where every employee , regardless of gender -- has an equal opportunity to grow, contribute, and thrive. The women on our shopfloor are a testament to that commitment.'

Women employees at Maruti Suzuki undergo the same on-the-job training and skill development programmes as their male counterparts. The company has been deliberate in ensuring that career progression pathways are identical, with no distinctions made on the basis of gender.

This parity in training is particularly significant given the physically and technically demanding nature of automobile manufacturing. That women are performing the same roles, to the same standards, challenges long-held assumptions about who belongs on a car assembly line.

Despite the progress, Bharti acknowledged a structural challenge that the industry cannot solve alone. Historically, fewer women have enrolled in ITI (Industrial Training Institute) courses in disciplines such as mechanical and electrical engineering, the primary feeder streams for shopfloor recruitment.

'The pool of women candidates available for selection has been small, simply because fewer women have opted for these technical courses at the ITI level,' Bharti noted. 'We would like to see more women take up these courses. The larger the pool, the better the opportunities , both for the candidates and for the industry.'

The observation points to a pipeline issue that begins well before the factory gate, in schools and vocational training centres across the country.

Maruti Suzuki recognised early that simply hiring women was not enough. Since shopfloor workforces have historically been almost entirely male, the company undertook a detailed study to understand the specific needs and concerns of women employees before making targeted infrastructure changes.

The upgrades were practical and wide-ranging: dedicated restrooms, changing areas, and a creche for working mothers were put in place. Security was strengthened, with guards on duty and active patrolling introduced during evening shifts to ensure women employees feel safe at all hours.

Equally important, the company initiated sensitisation training for existing team members, a deliberate effort to shift mindsets and foster an environment of openness and respect. Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) training has been made mandatory for 100% of employees, reinforcing the message that inclusion is not optional.

India's automobile manufacturing sector has long struggled with gender diversity on the production floor. Maruti Suzuki's experience suggests that the barriers, while real, are not insurmountable, provided companies are willing to invest not just in hiring, but in the infrastructure, training, and culture that make retention possible.

With over 190 women now embedded across critical assembly functions at two of the country's largest car plants, the company is making a quiet but pointed argument: the shopfloor is no longer just a man's world. (ANI)