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Women Taking Lead in Corporate Leadership: What’s New? - Executive TimesPro

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Women Taking Lead in Corporate Leadership: What’s New? - Executive TimesPro

Women as CEOs

Since the Company's Act 2013 mandated having one woman member on every Board, the number of women corporate leaders in India has increased considerably. As per Deloitte Global’s Women in the Boardroom Report, the percentage of female corporate leaders has gone up from 9.4% in 2014 to 17.1% in 2022. However, there has been a decline in the number of women CEOs in the last six years.

Women in India remain underrepresented in top positions as male executives overwhelmingly dominate C-suites. Amongst the Fortune 100 companies in India, only five have women CEOs. Various reasons can be attributed to the same, with gender bias at the top of the list.

Gender Disparity in the C-Suite

Female corporate leaders hold only 15% of C-suite roles in India, far below the global average of 25%. At the international level also, the numbers are not very promising. As we talk, not a single industry in the world has reached gender parity in leadership roles despite half of the workforce being women in industries like education, wellness, and fitness.

Various Reasons for Gender Disparity

Patriarchal Norms

The rampant patriarchy in India is one of the primary reasons behind the vast gender disparity in the Indian corporate setup. There is still a common prejudice against women’s capability to handle high-responsibility positions professionally. Usually, the performance standards and expectations in an organization differ on a gender basis for the same level and band. This forces women, corporate leaders, to go above and beyond to prove their worth equal to their male counterparts, leading to low morale and burnout.

Gender Roles

Women in India face the lopsided burden of domestic responsibilities as primary caregivers. This significantly affects their productivity, consequently leading to their underperforming at work. The embedded gender roles are the major roadblock to achieving diversity in the workplace.

Lack of Professional Education

Often, female corporate leaders feel less confident than their male counterparts for want of professional education and training. This is because of the lack of women’s executive leadership programs. However, as workplace diversity and women empowerment revolutions have picked up the pace, various institutions have started offering women's executive leadership programs that are devised, keeping the special requirements of women corporate leaders in mind.

Possible Solutions to Gender Disparity

There is still a long time before India achieves 100% gender parity in the workplace, but the trends look promising. At the foundation level, both men and women need to be sensitized about the need for gender equality in the workplace and the benefits that diversity offers. Reports by Harvard Business Review suggest that diversity in the workplace helps the organization increase its customer base and also multiply innovation revenues. Companies with high diversity have 19% higher innovation revenues. It also helps the team to collaborate more effectively.

As more and more organizations become cognizant of diversity and female leadership benefits, the time is just right for women executives to rise to leadership positions. For this, it is imperative that potential female corporate leaders work towards upskilling and addressing gender-specific challenges. They should prepare to attract growth opportunities and work on their skills, so that they are well-equipped to take up challenging tasks when the opportunity comes knocking on their doors.

Professional education and advanced training play an instrumental role in helping women develop the required skills to emerge as more confident and capable working professionals.

Executive Women Leadership Program

Various academic institutes and ed-techs have started offering professional educational programs specially designed for aspiring women corporate leaders. The best of the lot is IIM Calcutta’s ‘Transitioning into Leadership: A Programme for Women Executives’ (TLPWE). This 12-month program is designed by top-notch industrialists and scholars to help women transition to leadership positions smoothly.

It enables aspiring female corporate leaders to amplify their presence across the managerial, administrative, and political realms of the organization. The program covers trending topics such as confronting problems faced by women in organizations, global gender perspectives in business, legal perspectives for working women in India, work-life balance, and more. A thorough analysis of these studies can help you pick on the perspective necessary to move up the corporate leadership ladder. The program is best suited for experienced women executives from corporations, family businesses and entrepreneurial ventures.

Final Words

In 2021, the number of women running businesses on the Fortune 500 list was 41, a record. This vouches for the fact that corporate leaders are taking note of the business case for women's leadership. Now, it is upon women to quickly whet their leadership skills and take on the senior leadership roles they rightfully deserve.

Programs like TLPWE can help them give the right guidance and equipment that they would need on this journey to success.

To know more: https://executive.timespro.com/course/leadership-and-strategy/iim-calcutta-transitioning-into-leadership-a-programme-for-women-executives/

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