REALITY BENEATH THE GLASS CEILING

FINALLY there is some positive news on women on corporate boards beyond the stale stories or ‘ought-to-be’ thinking.

- CKGNAIR and RACHANA BAID

FINALLY there is some positive news on women on corporate boards beyond the stale stories or ‘ought-to-be’ thinking. A recent report, titled ‘Women and Men in India 2025: Selected Indicators and Data’ published by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI), is an eye-opener on many dimensions of India’s gender divide. One heartening information is that women are finally catching up with men on company boards, though their progress on many other fronts continue to be slow.

Out of over 31.6 lakh directorships on the books, 28.7 per cent are now held by women. Almost a million women on boards is a proclamation of arrival, since for decades the gurus perpetuated a false narrative that there were not enough qualified women to adorn boards, particularly for listed companies with higher-order compliance requirements.

The MoSPI data covers all companies on the corporate affairs ministry register—listed and unlisted, big and small. The data also confirms that progress thins out at the senior management level below the board. While the share of women on boards stands over a quarter, it is still only about 17 percent in senior management, although a decent 29 percent share is maintained at other management levels. This appears to be a deliberate HR strategy of keeping women from breaking the glass ceiling and getting to the board.