Where are the women leaders?

Economically excluded?                 

Limited choices?    

Legally discriminated?

Yes, we are talking about a woman struggling for a dignified existence. The three beasts impede her worldwide, according to the World Bank (2015). If you thought it is restricted to the lower social strata, think again. Women tussle day in and day out to rise beyond the glass ceiling irrespective of their economic standing and the development status of their countries. Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank exposed this inconvenient truth in an interview that she hardly bumps into two or three women lead bankers at the international conferences. The Grant Thornton research (2015) reveals that women occupy 22 per cent of the senior roles globally and 15 per cent in India. They earn only 60-75 per cent of their male counterparts, according to the HeForShe Impact Champion Parity report released by UN Women a few days ago.

The banking sector in India is an exception where women lead both in the public and private sectors. Similarly, India boasts of the 11 per cent commercial women pilots’ that lies way above the world average of 3 per cent (International Society of Women Airline Pilots, 2014). It brings to fore the question, what favours women in terms of career advancement and what hinders them.

Barriers

Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook, raises the issue of external barriers to women’s success as leaders in her book, Lean In: Women, Work and Will to Lead. The data released by International Labour Organisation (2015) supports it since it divulges that most women are limited to the roles of human resources, communication, public relations, administration and finance, thus lowering their chance to reach the zenith. Organisational structures and the role of women as caretakers of the house and the babies are the omnipresent hindrances in women’s careers. Even the most powerful women in the corporate sector like Indra Nooyi could not break the glass ceiling when her mother sent her to fetch milk to fulfil her duty as a wife on the day she was promoted to the highest post at Pepsico.

Enablers

However, despite the barriers women are moving ahead. Let us see what helps them.

Inspiring men in women’s lives

Naina Lal Kidwai’s book, 30 Women in Power: Their Voices, Their Stories, reveals that the men in women’s lives play a crucial role in deciding how far she goes. For example, it was the husband of Sangeetha Pendurkar, Managing Director, Kellogs, and, the father-in-law of P.Preetha Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals who inspired the ladies to go ahead with their careers when they hit the critical phase of work-life balance. Having a supportive spouse ranks high on most of the achievers’ list, be it Indian divas or the likes of Ursula Burns of Xerox and Sheryl Sandberg.

Aspiration

Another factor that stands out is the desire of all these women, cutting across the sectors of law, consulting, media, journalism, NGOs and corporate, to prove themselves in the men’s world.  They all aspire to excel in their respective fields even if it means to traverse an extra mile than their male counterparts.

Childcare support

Family backup in the form of mothers or mothers-in-law supporting childcare also matter, for example, in case of Chanda Kochar. According to a World Bank report, women spend twice the time of men on the domestic chores of caring and housework. It is a known fact that many women opt out of the work force after motherhood. So, childcare support if provided by organisations would highly boost the women representation at senior levels.

Mentors

Mentors and role models also play a positive role in bringing out the best in women. For example, R.K. Krishna Kumar, a TATA loyalist, chose Avani Davda to lead Starbucks in India. The down-to-earth JRD Tata influenced Sudha Murthy, Chairman, Infosys Foundation, to ‘give back to the society’.

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