MIND THE GAP

WHEN INDIA INC.'S MALE-DOMINATED C-SUITE LACKS VISIBLE ROLE MODELS FOR THE WOMEN WORKFORCE OF A MAJORITY OF ORGANISATIONS IN INDIA, HERALDING A CHANGE AT THE BOTTOM BECOMES HARDER. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE, AND FAST

-  VIDYA S.

IT IS AN interesting time in India's history. The country has a woman President, a woman Finance Minister and a woman chairing capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Parliament has ushered in one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Indian women are literally over the moon, having played a significant role in Chandrayaan-3, India's successful lunar mission.

The country has also made progress in the realm of business. For instance in mid-market businesses, with 36 per cent of women in leadership roles, India is ahead of the current global (32 per cent), BRIC (34 per cent) and G7 (30 per cent) averages, according to Grant Thornton's International Business Report on Women in Business 2023 - The push for parity'. But a lot more needs to be done. Consider this: Six in 10 companies have less than 20 per cent representation of women in leadership (CXO and board) positions, per consulting firm Aon's latest DEI Landscape Report. Half of these firms have less than 5 per cent representation.

"Overall, corporate India has progressed on women's representation at the leadership level over the past 10 years to 26-27 per cent. But what we are really gunning for is 50 per cent," says Sujatha Shivsankar, Chief-Culture, People Experience, IDE, Performance & Talent, KPMG in India. Referring to recent studies, Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, says women's representation is still skewed towards junior and middle management in 70 per cent of organisations in India. "This illustrates a clear need to enhance and augment the focus towards building a talent pool of senior women leaders, and preparing them for board positions and important committees."