While we at Biz Divas are busy with a a series of ‘Roundtables’ across India on the subject, Kalpana Unadkat shares her views on “The business case for women in leadership roles needs belief and commitment to become reality” with BUSINESSWORLD.
Here is her article originally published in BUSINESSWORLD:
Over the last two decades, there has been an increased focus on women in senior leadership roles and on boards of companies. Although the proportion of women breaking the proverbial ‘glass ceiling’ to reach the highest rung in the corporate ladder is still very low globally, in most countries it has been witnessing a positive change. Academicians and industry insiders have both long formed a consensus regarding the merits of a diverse and gender balanced board. There has been a strong case made out for teams with diverse perspectives and different set of experience leading to better decision making.In India, while women account for nearly 40 per cent of the total workforce, their presence on the board level is pegged at less than seven per cent. To an extent, this abysmal number of women at the board level is being attributes to deep rooted socio-cultural causes. These include rampant female foeticide and marginalisation of females with regard to opportunities for higher education. The female literacy rate in India of 62 per cent is much lower than that of males, about 85 per cent, according to the 2011 census. Lower literacy and fewer opportunities in higher education significantly affects the number of women entering the corporate workforce.The new Companies Act, 2013 (“New Act”) has brought forth some positive steps to increase the diversity of boards requiring every listed company as well as every public company which has a paid up share capital of more buy zithromax online pharmacy than Rs 100 crore or a turnover of over Rs 300 crore to have a woman director. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has granted public companies one year to comply with this requirement.The need for gender diversity has been reinforced with SEBI (by way of a circular dated 17 April 2014) amended the listing agreement (agreement with stock exchanges by which all listed companies are bound by) to mandate that all listed companies have at least one woman director on their boards by 1 October 2014.Increasingly, legislators across the globe have started recognising diversity at the board level as more than just an act of corporate window dressing. This shift in view has also lead to some transformative steps being taken towards ensuring wider women representation at the senior level. Some examples of countries which have introduced mandatory requirements (in some form or the other), to ensure broader representation of women at the board level are highlighted below:- Norway requires up to 40 per cent female membership on boards of all public limited liability companies.
- Spain, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium have all legislated for an increased presence of women on boards.
- At the European Union level, efforts are being made for public companies to voluntarily commit to 40% female board membership by 2020.
While the recent changes to the Indian corporate law framework have brought about a much needed opportunity for companies to increase diversity on their boards, they also pose challenges for companies looking to comply with these requirements.Organisations are looking at women directors with adequate experience and functional skills. Given the limited time within which companies have to appoint female directors coupled with a limited number of women leaders available in the short to medium term, it is likely that companies will resort to window dressing by appointing female friends or relatives of directors or promoters to the board.The root cause of the low representation of women can be traced back to the socio-cultural problems of widespread illiteracy and the cultural mind-block against working women owing largely to the redundant and archaic concepts of division of labour between man and woman. However, with changing times, equal opportunity is not merely an option but now a necessity for corporations.To stay competitive, companies will have to utilise their human resources optimally; which includes a large section of women from entry level to promotions up to the board level. The women’s quota on corporate boards in India is a small step, but coupled with changes at the grass root level, it has the potential to break down gender stereotypes at the workplace (including at board levels) and allow equal opportunities to all.The business case for women in leadership roles needs belief and commitment to become reality. No doubt, this will require significant change in corporate behaviour, culture and in attitude, by those who occupy positions of power. Change has been slow but it is imminent!
Excellent Mam ! More and more people should take up this and show the world WOmen can change the world.
Excellent