What is this fuss about Women on Boards? Everyone is talking about the same, and everyone seems to be having a view. When the new company act got notified this April that mandated one woman on each board, it was time for some serious thinking! Coupled with the fact that the deadline for implementation is as early as 1 October 2014, there is an urgent need to understand the act from a policy, process and implementation perspective. Biz Divas believes in building a voice on policy, legislation and advocacy as opposed to being mute spectators. We had to chip in to support the landmark act, which is considered to be a tipping point in India Inc’s history.
India’s Leading law firm Khaitan & Co, expert in the area of Company law, found a synergy with our thoughts and partnered with Biz Divas to come up with a document for corporate India which would make the implementation easier. Under the umbrella of Biz Divas Corporate Networking group, we then reached out to some of our member organizations for support to this initiative. Barclays, Capgemini and Honeywell believed in this journey and partnered with us on the way. Our Strategic partner Monster and our Knowledge Partner EY helped us in giving direction to our plan.
India being a diverse country with different cultures and approaches, it was but necessary to understand views from pan India. Rashmi Mandloi, Diversity Lead Biz Divas and Kalpana Unadkat, Partner Khaitan & Co decided to travel to 8 locations across India to discuss and debate this over a series of Round Tables. The summary findings along with perspective on the implementation of the law will be put together into a research report by them.
The business case for this is apparent. India currently has 1472 Public listed companies out of which there are 8990 directors. Women Directors number just 350 in that list which accounts for just about 4% of the list. According to the All India Management Association, Indian companies require 966 women directors to meet the requirements of the new law. Only one in 8 management roles and 1 in 20 executive roles are held by women in India, says a study by IIM Bangalore.
Diversity of views and the fact that woman perspective was considered a virtue on the board and a welcome buy zithromax usa change mentioned by most of the men across the Round tables.
The act has grey areas and foremost among it is the comparison of the provisions of woman director and independent directors on the boards of companies. It is not clear if the woman director is also required to be an independent director, the qualifications of a woman director and whether she can be part of the promoter group. Apart from that, various liabilities associated with an Independent director on board of companies does not make it an easy strategy for most of the company boards that are debating on filling the positions.
“It was interesting to see different perspectives on the same topic across the length and breadth of the country,” says Rashmi.
Cofounder Biz Divas & Altavis and Board Practice Head, Ranjana Deopa feels, “Organizations clearly need to look at a larger talent pool and sometimes at skill sets very different from standard so as to add innovative thinking and perspectives to the boards.”
To summarize, getting women on boards is not an end to the task but a means and tool to organizations, to approach different perspectives which have traditionally been very non-inclusive. It’s the start of a wave and a different approach, and in time we will see its results!
“Although
there is a difference across cities in India in the value that women bring to boards, there is consensus that women can have a positive impact on boards.”
~ Kalpana Unadkat, Partner Khaitan & Co
“In West India, there were unique ideas on approaching this law, whereas in the South there was a demand for a process and framework to fulfill it. The East wanted to get on to implementing with a wait-and-watch attitude, whereas the North was keen on involving various other government bodies to make the implementation successful.”
~ Rashmi Mandloi, Diversity Lead Biz Divas
While I do feel that there is no dearth of women talent for board positions ,organizations need to look beyond those 80-100 regular names. Even if having one woman on board is an act of tokenism, the new act will be a game changer and is very forward looking. If implemented well, India’s example will be spoken of on the same lines as Norway in the future.
