MUMBAI: Hours after criticism in various quarters, including labour unions and the Delhi Commission for Women --- not to forget Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi who shot off a missive to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman -- the State Bank of India on Saturday withdrew its revised guidelines on recruitment of pregnant candidates.
There was outrage after the SBI recently reviewed its 'Fitness Standards for Recruitment in the Bank', including norms for pregnant women candidates. Under the new rules, a woman candidate who was more than three months' pregnant, will be considered “temporarily unfit” and can join the bank within four months after delivery.
Chaturvedi, in her letters to Sitharaman and SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Ithara, had said that the revised guidelines were “extremely discriminatory in nature and debilitate the progress made to empower the women of our country”.
“The present guidelines, which allow the appointment of candidates up to six months of pregnancy, provided that the candidate furnishes a certificate from a specialist gynecologist, was brought forward in 2009. However, the revised guidelines delay the process of recruitment and promotion for women,” said Chaturvedi, adding that the development comes at a time when the state of India's female workforce has worsened.
She further claimed that such regressive and sexist guidelines will exacerbate the exclusion of women and the inequalities faced by them. “The women of our country have been long fighting for equal rights. It's the responsibility of the State to spearhead this fight and not dissuade it. Therefore, I urge you to recall these discriminatory guidelines and ensure that such detrimental policies are not brought forward in the future as well,” she said.
The SBI made amends after the furore and said in a statement, “In view of the public sentiments, the SBI has decided to keep the revised instructions regarding recruitment of pregnant women candidates in abeyance and continue with the existing instructions in the matter.” The bank stated that the revised guidelines were intended to provide clarity on various health parameters where instructions were not clear, or were very old. “SBI has always been proactive towards the care and empowerment of its women employees who now constitute around 25% of our workforce,” the statement said.
