A lot boils down to how companies approach board member selection—which is typically through references in India. “All my overseas boards have been the result of a professional search process that the respective companies have undertaken to refresh their boards. In India, there is still a lot of who the Chairman knows and wants on the board,” says Vinita Bali, former MD & CEO of Britannia Industries, who has worked extensively with listed companies in India and overseas in executive and independent director positions.
“Companies advertise for all other important positions. Have you ever seen any advertisement for board positions seeking talent from the open market?” asks Manoj K. Raut, CEO & Secretary General of the Institute of Directors, India. The organisation trains, certifies, and mentors directors, and helps them get empanelled on different boards.
Neharika Vohra, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at IIM Ahmedabad— who serves as independent director herself and trains corporates in leadership – says an Indian board places a premium on knowing the person being selected because they are trusted with all kinds of information. “It is seen as a high cost to the company when the woman being selected is unknown to their network. That is why so few women keep getting circulated around boards.” When that is the case, how much meaningful contribution can the person in question make for the company’s growth and strategy? Very little, says Raut. “Once you are on the board, you will be on several committees. And those meetings can go on for long. Nothing can be finalised overnight.”
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Networking is one of the best ways for women to get into more boards. That’s how the men do it, say experts. These days, several networks run workshops, mentor women and enable their board placements. Raut says women’s participation in his organisation’s programmes has risen steadily over the past four to five years, with 25 per cent of every batch now being women.
Speaking strictly about professional board appointments, Bali has a different view. “If we are selecting members based on competence, there is no reason why first-time women directors need to undergo special training which their male counterparts don’t need to.”
But what really helps women to be more effective board members is critical mass. “There is enough and more evidence to say that to really make a big difference, you need at least two to three women on the board. Otherwise, the voice of a single woman gets drowned,” says Bali.
Agrees Arun Duggal, Chairman of ratings agency ICRA and a former CEO of Bank of America, India. “A quarter to 33 per cent of your board has to be women directors to enhance the impact of having women on them.”
He sees the jump from the current 18 per cent representation to 25 per cent as being crucial. “Once that happens, it will become automatic (where it starts becoming the norm to have more women on company boards).” Along the way, sensitisation of the small and big things is much needed.
For instance, Vohra points out, the standard issue green-notary stamp still says ‘Chairman’ and not ‘Chairperson’. “We should have fixed it by now. Every time I get such a paper, I replace ‘Chairman’ with ‘Chairperson’ and then sign.”