More than a century after the first International Women’s Day was observed, the 'playing field' is far from level for them, especially at work.

The widest valley in the gender pay gap tragically occurs in the top ranks of leadership. For every Rs 100 that men at the CXO-levels earn, their women counterparts earn Rs 74 only, reveals a new survey, which also offers some startling revelations about their motivations.

As per ‘The Grand Women & Workplace Report’ by Harappa - part of integrated Learning, Skilling, & Workforce Development company upGrad, women most value growth (82 per cent of respondents) and increased compensation (78 per cent) at work along with a supportive ecosystem to achieve these.

Contrary to popular belief, less than a third of the women surveyed picked flexible work options and work-life balance as key themes.

Layered across career milestones and with inputs from more than 1,500 professionals in India Inc, the findings bring to light a range of critical issues affecting women in the workplace.

Women professionals excel at sales and are bringing in revenue, however, they aren’t being entrusted enough with investment decisions. Profit & Loss mandates still elude women, with the biggest gap occurring between men and women department leads — at 65 per cent vs 29 per cent, respectively.

While most women who take career breaks do so for parenthood (58 per cent), men are more likely to pause professional pursuits to further their education (48 per cent). The disparity doesn’t stop at starting a family: women spend 2.5 times more time caregiving, every day, through their careers.

“Unfortunately, women’s careers continue to be the greatest obstacle course in history, marred by broken rungs, glass ceilings, glass cliffs, and deep valleys of pay gaps and role inequities. These are critical challenges and realities to address and fix. India’s ascent to becoming one of the world’s top economies will need all its talent to contribute meaningfully, and progress fairly, and we hope that our report is one more reminder to continue to endeavour to fix these,” said Harappa Co-founders, Shreyasi Singh and Pramath Raj Sinha.

Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder & Chairperson, upGrad said that 'The Women and Workplace report' on the challenges women face in the workplace is a wake-up call.  

“It gives us urgent priorities to address to ensure that every employee feels valued and respected, regardless of gender. We must do better to support and empower women, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it's critical to our long-term success," he added.