How to get women into C-Suite jobs

HR policy should be tweaked to attract and retain the right talent. And, women must be given opportunities for line roles

- M Muneer

Last year was remarkable for women power: At 29 per cent, it was the highest percentage ever of women in senior management positions globally. Today, 87 per cent of global businesses have at least one woman in a senior management role. Just last week, Unilever claimed to have achieved gender parity in the top leadership globally.

Last couple of years saw many women taking up leadership positions, in business and politics, across the world. Angela Merkel, Dilma Rouseff of Brazil, Sheryl Sandberg of FB, Mary Barra of GM, Christine Lagarde of IMF, and Sheikha Hasina… the list goes on.

Two leading women — IMF’s Christine Lagarde and Norway’s PM Erna Solberg — put up a case for accelerating gender equality in workforce that can lead to an estimated 27 per cent GDP growth in India. Indeed a strong economic impetus for a struggling government in India to bring in more qualified women in government itself, to start with.

Various other researches also show that even for business these growth facts hold good. Enterprises with strong female leadership generated an ROE (Return on Equity) of 10.1 per cent per annum, as against 7.4 per cent for those without. Women executives with 15+ years experience must find inspiration in this data to drive themselves for top leadership roles, particularly in business. The C-suite women will only increase in the new decade, given the trend.