WINDS OF CHANGE

IT'S STILL NOT EASY TO BE A WORKING WOMAN IN THE COUNTRY AND MAKE IT TO THE TOP. BUT COMPANIES ARE WORKING TO INCENTIVISE AND RETAIN WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN THE WORKFORCE BY OFFERING A RANGE OF BENEFITS.

- SURABHI

IT CAN GET lonely at the top and even more so, if you are a woman leading an organisation. For women, shattering the so-called glass ceiling or breaking into the "boys' club" has never been easy and it remains an uphill battle where they often have to manage and juggle personal and professional responsibilities and also take on biases both conscious and unconscious-to not only prove that they have what it takes to be a dedicated employee but also that they deserve the next big promotion or pay hike.

This is an even bigger challenge in a country like India that is known for its low female labour force participation rate. Various reports and surveys have time and again highlighted this paradox in India and much of South Asia where despite accounting for half the population, women largely tend to stay out of the workforce and even fewer find representation at the middle- and top management levels.

This was also highlighted by a recent study by think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). It found that while there has been some increase in women in top management roles, India still lags the global average.

Women in top management roles have increased from nearly 14% in FY14 to about 22% in FY23, noted the paper titled 'Female Leadership in Corporate India: Firm Performance and Culture'. It, however, found that India still lags in the share of women in middle-and senior management roles at only 20%, compared to nearly 33% for the world (as of 2019). "Almost 60% of the firms studied did not have any women in top management teams as of March 2023," the study says.

It also found that the mandate was not replicated in top management teams (C-suites). More than half of the NSE-listed firms in the sample didn't have even one woman in their top management teams, and about 10% of firms had just one woman.

CHALLENGES GALORE