The Invisible Glass Ceiling !!!

Ever wondered why India Inc. is surging ahead riding on the brains of only the best men and so few women in the country? The corner offices and the top managerial levels are all filled with deserving men, but where are the women, whom we see at organizations handling important portfolios?

The answer lies in the deep-seated Indian mentality. Somewhere down the journey in their careers, women get lost midway, some giving up their careers after marriage or child birth and in some cases, both.

There is another reason for the severe paucity of women in the hot seats of organizations. Research shows that only a mere 4.5% of women directors sit on the boards of Indian companies, while male directors constitute the rest 95.5%. It is not that women do not deserve to be in decision-making positions of the companies that do India proud on the international platform. Instead, it is the invisible glass ceiling present at workplaces that keeps women from getting to the top.

They are often bypassed and overlooked when a top position is being considered. Women often have to handle the egos and expectations of male colleagues, and only a handful of women have managed to break the glass ceiling that keeps them from reaching the upper echelons of management.

True, that India Inc. threw its weight behind the Women’s Bill, which promises to give the fairer sex a bigger role in the political arena when it becomes law, but it is time to pause and think whether some amount of reservation is also needed to achieve the same gender balance in its boardrooms as well.

There are two factors that may help to contribute in achieving an equality of sexes in the boardrooms. One is to put in place a policy that encapsulates the spirit of gender equality amongst professionals, and the other is to gradually propel a cultural shift within an organization. Merely putting a policy in place might not help in changing the deep rooted mentality of people.

Some women, who have been able to break through the glass ceiling and have made it to the top are of the opinion that the work culture needs to be changed first, which involves a bottom-up approach; the mentality needs to be changed at the grass roots, which will drive diversity, and then a policy can be put in place to implement it.

At the same time, it has been proven that changes in policies first can bring about refreshing changes in a country’s work culture and introduce gender diversity in private institutions.

Norway serves as an unprecedented example of the same. In 2003, the government introduced a policy that required 40% of the boards of all publicly listed companies to be filled by women, as opposed to the prevailing rate of 7%.

Maybe it’s time that India took a chapter out of Norway’s policy and proceed to introduce something similar.

There isn’t a dearth of competent women out there who can take board seats, and once shareholders are forced to look beyond the ‘old boys’ club’, they will find enough women to fill them.

Reservation might not be the best way out, but the ball has to start rolling at some point. Sometimes extra efforts are needed to encourage and empower women, and quotas can serve as transitional means to overcome initial blockages.