𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 3 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 "𝘛𝘰𝘱 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢" 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘷𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺

• Tamil Nadu dominates the third edition of the Top Cities for Women in India index, with 8 TN cities featuring in the top 25: Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Madurai, Salem, Erode and Tirupur
• Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune bag the top five positions
• South India emerges as the most gender-inclusive region, 16 South Indian cities featuring in the Top 25

Chennai, January 8, 2024: Avtar group, Indias pioneer in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) solutions and Indias leading workplace culture consulting firm, announced the third edition of Top Cities for Women in India (TCWI) index today.  Whilst Chennai ranked second for being the most inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable city for working women, Tamil Nadu dominated the survey results with 8 TN cities featuring in the Top 25  Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Madurai, Salem, Erode and Tirupur.

Speaking at the press conference, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder-President, Avtar group said, Cities are the foundations of opportunity. They shape how women live, work, and thrive. So, a clear understanding of the core principles and cultural fabric of our cities is crucial for advancing womens progress and inclusion. Avtars annual index Top Cities for Women in India does precisely that, using a data-centric and evidence-based approach. And, to realize our dream of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, we need the Indian Women Professionals to succeed on par with men. This is possible only if cities are truly gender-inclusive and offer an atmosphere where womens strengths can be optimized. This means not just providing safe streets, accessible healthcare & education and affordable living to women, which are largely reparatory measures, but also competitive avenues for womens economic success and opportunities for them to thrive as business leaders. Lets invest in women-led projects and optimize womens lives and careers.

The Top 10 Cities for Women in 2024 include: Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Coimbatore.

Criteria for selecting the top 10 cities for Indian women in 2024

120 cities across India were considered for the study, based on their economic contribution to the country. The cities were ranked based on an overall City Inclusion Score assigned to every city, inferred from Avtars research and existing governmental data. The City Inclusion Score (CIS) is derived from three pillars  Social Inclusion Score (SIS), Industrial Inclusion Score (IIS) and Citizen Experience Score (CES).  

• The Social Inclusion Score is a cumulative score of four indicators that include city livability, safety, womens representation in employment and womens empowerment. 
• The Industrial Inclusion Score evaluates the extent to which organizations in the city across industries are inclusive of women.
• The Citizen Experience Score captures womens assessment of their cities and is calculated from the responses collated from women across India through FGDs and surveys. It covers six pillars: Skilling and employment, caregiving support, transport and accommodation infrastructure, quality of life, efficiency of government bodies, and safety. 

While the first two editions of the TCWI index featured two lists of cities  Million-plus cities and Less than a million cities, this years report has a single unified ranking because of several factors such as outdated population data, rapid urbanization and migration, and to simplify the execution process for stakeholders. 

The findings | Regional analysis: 

The South emerges as the most inclusive region, scoring comparatively higher in both social and industrial inclusion. The average city inclusion score of the South is 18.56. The South is closely followed by the West (16.92). The Central and Eastern regions lag, with averages of 11.79 and 10.55, respectively. This is a result of limited industrial development and opportunities. The North is at 14.00 It is worth noting that while the industrial inclusion scores of Northern cities like Delhi and Gurugram are high, there is scope for improvement in their social inclusion scores. 

State-wise analysis: 

Kerala leads with the highest average City Inclusion Score of 20.89, followed by Telangana at 20.57, Maharashtra at 19.93, Tamil Nadu at 19.38 and Karnataka at 17.50. 

Womens ratings of cities: 

Skilling and employment: Gurugram is rated the highest (7.68  out of 10) by women. Among the bigger cities, Mumbai (7.60) and Bengaluru (7.54) score highest in skilling and employment, while Chennai (7.09), Hyderabad (6.95) and Thiruvananthapuram (5.51) lag slightly behind.  

Infrastructure: Hyderabad (8.01) secures the highest score for infrastructure (a well-connected public transport system and other travel amenities). Hyderabad is closely followed by Mumbai (7.64). Among the smaller cities, Coimbatore (7.75) and Kochi (7.41) score high in infrastructure. 

Efficiency of government bodies: Thiruvananthapuram (8.15) and Pune (7.06) top governance efficiency. Gurugram at 6.48 has room for improvement.

Quality of life: Coimbatore (7.54), Pune (7.50) and Chennai (7.05) report the best quality of life. Gurugram scores relatively low (6.34), which may be attributed to environmental challenges. 

Safety: Thiruvananthapuram (7.43), Mumbai (7.19) and Hyderabad (6.95) lead in safety, while women rate Bengaluru (6.17), Kochi (6.02) and Gurugram (5.60) comparatively low in safety. 

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