Can You Learn To Be A Leader?

Bazaar India speaks with the country’s leading female bosses about the most effective ways to reach greater heights of success.

- Humra Afroz Khan

While the business world has been making great strides towards gender equality and women empowerment, the ratio of male bosses versus female continues to be appallingly skewed against the latter. And India, unfortunately, fares abysmally-low on the list—with one of the lowest female labour force participation rates, globally. In 2020, only around 6 percent of companies on the Fortune India 500 list were managed by women. Just 29 had women in executive roles.

It’s true that a lot of social factors contribute to the figures. Multiple surveys and studies have reiterated the role of gender bias—conscious or unwitting—in recruitments, promotions, remuneration decisions, and at the workplace. But there is another critical factor at play: the underconfidence that women exhibit, even amongst the most qualified sometimes.

A recent Hewlett-Packard research revealed that “men apply for a job when they meet about 60 percent of the qualifications. But women apply only if they meet 100 percent of them”. Many other polls concur that a majority of women, subconsciously, consider themselves inadequate. Despite years of experience and proven results, they tend to underestimate their skills, and cast aspersions on their ability to lead. And that doesn’t just put them on a professional backfoot, it also hampers their progress up the rank-ladder.

Interestingly, this lack of self-belief exists even though it is well-documented that companies with female bosses often outperform those led by men. In fact, a McKinsey & Company research just last year revealed that female leaders drove better outcomes for all employees, and organisations that had women on executive teams were up to 25 percent more likely to have above-average performance.