Why India Inc needs more women leaders

India Inc has a problem. Only 8.9 per cent of firms in India have women as top managers, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021.

Explaining her view on the issue, Harshbeena Zaveri, the Vice Chairman and MD of auto components maker NRB Bearings, says, "In India, women go missing between entry and middle levels. When you can hold them in the middle level, slowly they do tend to come up to the senior levels as seen in the banking and finance sector."

She says the situation is likely to worsen because the pandemic's burden has been higher on women. "It has become quite obvious that at home, irrespective of their professional standing, women are the ones taking responsibility for household duties."

Empathy, a collaborative spirit, better conflict resolution, diversity of thought and a host of other superior soft skills are what women leaders bring to the table, which have become all the more important after the pandemic. Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan and Iceland stand testimony -- they are all women-led nations lauded for their COVID-19 crisis management.

Global executive search firm EMA Partners' Managing Director K Sudarshan says companies also realise that they need to include more women. "They are offering a route back into corporate roles."

According to a 2021 Working Mother and Avtar Best Companies for Women in India study, women in corporate leadership in IT/ITeS, FMCG and manufacturing have increased over the previous year, whereas it has dipped in BFSI and pharma.

BT Magazine's story looks at what India needs to do for increasing female labour force participation and achieving gender equality. Experience the BT Immersive story here: What India needs to do to address its gender gap

"In the past 10 years, especially in the past three years, it has been heartening to see large organisations put money into diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives. Smaller firms are yet to realise the benefits accrued to them through these measures. It's a good beginning but has been limited to certain sectors like IT and banking," says Saundarya Rajesh, founder and president of D&I consulting firm Avtar Group.

"But increasing women's participation in leadership roles is also a function of supply. How many women are enrolling in MBAs? Only when they come through the ranks will you find them at the top. That's a bigger challenge," says Sudarshan, who is also Regional Managing Partner-Asia, adding that women do drop off at the middle management level.

The BT-MDRA B-school Ranking 2021 shows that the number of women candidates in the top 25 B-schools have been rising for the past six financial years.

Zaveri doesn't believe that there is a shortage of competent women in the country for senior positions. "Headhunters ask me if I mind having a woman candidate," she says, adding that extended maternity leaves only hurt the women. Instead, companies should insist on interviewing at least two women candidates for every 10 they consider for senior positions.

"We should fill company boards with 50 per cent women, why just one woman? We should fill CXO positions with 30-50 per cent women," says Zaveri.

In the NRB Bearings boardroom, she says, the principle is to have women in three of the most important roles. Either the chairman of the NRC or the Audit committee, and the company secretary if not the CFO.

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