Giving big post to women in corporate

 Policy changes in the United States highlight the challenges and the barriers to increasing women’s participation in the corporate workforce; these have global relevance

International Women’s Day on March 8, 2025

Once again, the world will celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2025 and 

companies will attempt to showcase steps taken toward the inclusion and the increase of women in the workforce. 

Entry of women in corporate 

The recent instance of rolling back 

• diversity, 
• equity and 
• inclusion (DEI) programmes in the United States federal government, 

But which also encourages the private sector to end DEI preference hirings. 

Effects -

Women, who comprise 48% of corporate America’s workforce, are reeling from the aftershock of this order and are now facing the threat of identity erasure.

A ripple effect

Dip in women's participation will have severe repercussions in all parts of today’s globally connected world. 

DEI and women leadership in world

such an entry mechanism has not really increased women’s participation in leadership roles. 

For instance, in India, women have been 

• historically marginalised from the workforce 
• and comprise about 35.9% of the worker population ratio;
•  senior and middle management levels where women account for only 12.7% leadership roles as of 2024.

It is easy to end DEI

 where women placed in companies are viewed as sufferance or an obligation rather than finding a way at the table on their own merit. 

Women's performance and ability to consolidate their position 

will depend on their own performance and further normalise the presence of women at all levels of the workforce.

The effect of legal mandates

In 2014, the Companies Act, 2013 

mandated that at-least one-woman director should be placed on the board of certain class of public limited companies, and 

SEBI 

in 2015, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandated that at least one independent woman director be appointed to the board of India’s top 1000 listed companies. 

. The inclusion of women directors on the board of NSE 500 listed companies has increased more than threefold, from 5 % in 2011 to 18% in 2023.

women in leadership roles and benefits

At a fundamental level, the presence of women increases the depth of the talent pool available in the workforce. 

Women director - provide informational diversity gained from different educational and career trajectories and distinct social and professional network associations 

women director offer a participative, democratic leadership style that stimulates robust discussion, drives a richer challenge and delivers greater value. 

Additionally, women tend to focus on 

• relationship building, 
• foster greater stakeholder commitment 
• and assist in formulating strategies that address stakeholder concerns 
• also overseeing better monitoring, 
• broader human capital management, and 
• communication channels which increase corporate accountability and reduce corporate risks.

When companies have more women in senior management and leadership roles, they became as a

• most admired and ethical companies,
• best companies to work for, 
• and best corporate citizens.

Key identified areas where women leaders bring greater dividends 

are 

• corporate governance, 
• strategic proposition oversight,
•  risk management, 
• shareholder and stakeholder value,
•  gender and society, 
• and environmental responsibility,

What real change is

Give actually power to women

women are truly effective corporate leaders when they are given actual power and responsibility and not merely appointed to positions as a token for gender diversity or to serve the agenda of their male benefactors. 

In Top level are women

It is only when a greater number of C-Suite/KMPs (top-level executives in an organisation and Key Managerial Personnel, or KMPs) are women, 

and, in addition, more independent directors and chairpersons of committees of the board and board committees are women, that they are truly effective corporate leaders. 

parity with their male

Importantly, the remuneration of women that is at parity with their male counterparts.

WAY FORWARD -

keep in mind 

that there are still significant steps that companies and regulators must take in order to ensure that women’s participation in the corporate workforces

 especially in senior leadership roles, is strong, contributes meaningfully toward corporate governance and is not just a token concept that is aimed at gaining brownie points from stakeholders. ..

Women’s participation in the workforce must be promoted for its many benefits and must not fall victim to the dominant political narrative.

End note: The issue of women in the corporate workforce, especially on company boards, 

is of great significance and merits deep research into various facets. 

Thought Arbitrage -

is undertaking such a study which maps the 

• patterns of women on corporate boards 
•  using qualitative and quantitative research methodologies 
• over a 10-year period, 
• involving about 1,000 companies.

Source the hindu