The recently passed Companies Bill mandates some sectors
of India Inc. to have at least one woman director on corporate boards. While
there is a clear business case for more women at the top, a quota system alone
does not address the reality that there aren’t enough women reaching the higher
rungs of the corporate ladder to occupy the positions a quota will create. In
order to truly exploit the benefits of gender diversity, companies need to look
beyond women-friendly policies to address the subtle factors that hold talented
women back from realizing their potential.
Only 6% of companies in India have women directors today,
and this indeed is a problem. However,
it is not problem of woman empowerment alone. In all three markets that
companies compete in, customers, employees and shareholders, the unique
leadership traits of a woman can make a significant difference. Nature has
endowed the woman with an intrinsic desire to care and to nurture. Even in her
professional life she tends to think of the larger good that she creates beyond
numbers. Indira Nooyi, CEO Pepsi Co and consistently amongst Forbes' 100 Most
Powerful Women, has defined Performance with Purpose as the defining culture
and goal for the beverages giant. Studies also show that companies with women
in executive roles have a much higher percentage of women in all ranks of the
company. In an era where human talent is the most important asset of a company,
it is advantageous to be able to inspire by example half the available talent
pool. Investors show higher confidence in companies with women on the executive
board as women are instinctively correlated with higher standards of ethics and
corporate governance. And last but not the least, for companies selling
consumer goods, where women have a huge impact on purchasing powers, a
leadership that reflects the diversity of the customer base is a valuable
asset.
A blanket quota system is, however, not the right way
forward. The quota can at best be used as a "goal" but not as a
"means". In order to build women leaders without compromising
meritocracy, companies must understand the barriers that hold talented women
back, and have a well-defined strategy in place with a commitment from the top
to improve their diversity index. The diversity index should be measured and
monitored at all tiers, and be a key performance indicator in the organization.
A good place to
start is the mid-management segment, where the drop-out ratio of women tends to
be at the highest. This trend is very clearly noticeable in the IT industry,
which has a high proportion of women at the entry and supervisory levels. As
women get into their child-bearing years, the proportion drops sharply. Going
the extra mile in addressing this leak in the middle of the pipeline can
automatically improve the gender diversity at the top, as it increases the pool
of available female professionals who can move up the hierarchy.
I believe there are two primary reasons behind this
drop-out. One, a woman experiences a natural break or plateau in her career
when she has a child, and when she joins back in full steam, she experiences a
mismatch in the work she is doing and her potential, which leads to her getting
disengaged or even frustrated. Second, she tries to walk a thin rope between
her commitment towards raising a healthy and happy family, and fulfilling her
intellectual ambition, and finds it difficult to strike the right balance.
These problems, coupled with social stereotypes become a mental block that
keeps women away from realizing their potential. With the right support and
mentoring, the company can create an ecosystem where these barriers cease to
exist in her mind, and her passion and determination to aim higher gets
fuelled.
A re-integration program for new mothers can bring continuum
in a woman’s career even with a maternity break in between. The program will
guide a woman who is about to proceed on maternity leave on the career options
available to her after the child is born that are well-suited to working part
time or from home. The program will also chalk out how to integrate back into
mainstream when she wishes to. She can continue to hone her skills accordingly
during the period she is away from work. With new technologies, this is now
possible and we are trying to make the best of it. Managers need to be
connected with her all through her break. Trust at this point in her
capabilities will go a long way in earning her respect and commitment towards
the organization.
Work-family balance is the other primary reason behind
drop-outs. It is a fact that women given as much importance to family as their
career, if not more, and are constantly juggling the several hats they wear.
Even small steps reflecting the sensitivity of the organization towards this
can make a big difference in how the woman feels about the workplace and the
work itself. Company policies, especially around travel and leaves, should be
reviewed from a woman's eyes to ensure that there is no unintended gender bias
seeping in. Special policies such as work from home and part time can be put in
to support women during times such as pregnancy and new motherhood. A concierge
helpdesk can be put up to help offload mundane chores such as laundry, bills,
cooking etc. Getting women to talk to other women achievers, is also a good way
of helping them overcome the mental barriers.
As more and more companies are becoming cognizant of the
need for more women leaders, there will come a tipping point where there are
enough women holding positions of power for gender imbalance to cease to be a
problem and quotas to become irrelevant. What remains to be seen is how long
this takes.
