Algorithmic Glass Ceilings: Evaluating Gender Neutrality in India’s Automated Workplaces

The integration of algorithmic systems into employment decision-making has reconfigured the normative foundations of workplace governance in India. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is frequently portrayed as a neutral and efficiency-enhancing tool, its deployment in recruitment and evaluation reveals a structural paradox: algorithmic systems often replicate and entrench historical gender inequalities embedded in labor markets. This article conceptualizes this phenomenon as the “neutrality paradox” and argues that India’s existing constitutional and statutory frameworks remain inadequate to address the opacity and proxy-based nature of algorithmic discrimination. Drawing on Indian Supreme Court jurisprudence and comparative regulatory developments, the article advances an “accountability-by-design” framework grounded in substantive equality, explainability, and institutional oversight.