A recent research study shows that the number of women members on the Corporate Boards of organizations in India is a mere 4%. (Source: Review of the balance sheets of 175 companies). The study throws up another interesting fact - 50% of women Board members are related to the Chairman or CEO either as mother, sister, wife or daughter. This means that just 2% of the members have attained the top position in organizations.

The National Census conducted across the country every 10 years shows that close to 50% of the overall population in India is women. In the last couple of decades, there has been a steady and significant increase in the number of women joining the workforce. This has been catapulted by the emergence and rapid growth of the services sector, that has provided a better working environment for women and leveraged their natural talents, that the factories and manufacturing facilities could not, unless it was say a high-technology/pharmaceutical plant.

Another important thing to note is that in India, there have been exclusive women’s colleges in existence for decades. In fact, some of them have been established even before India attained its freedom from British rule. To quote a few examples, Women’s Christian College in Chennai (founded in 1915), Women’s Christian College, Kolkata (1945), St. .Xaviers, Mumbai (1868), Women’s College, Kolkata (1937), Mount Caramel Bangalore (1948). Several colleges celebrated their Golden Jubilee years in the last few years, e.g. the Lady Shri Ram in 2005. Such colleges have been a lighthouse of learning and significantly for the nation, have been successfully producing a large number of women graduates and post graduates. Besides these prestigious institutes which continue to be held with great esteem, a large number of medical, engineering and management schools have come up, which have a good proportion of girl students.

So if there’s such a rich woman talent pool and there are industries that provide a better enabling environment for women employees, the million dollar question is – where are all these well educated women, and why are they not among the top positions in organizations?

An obvious response – which definitely has more than a grain of truth at least in the Indian context – is that the majority of them have preferred to become home makers at some stage in their career, and only a few really focused on building their careers as a long term commitment, like men do.

Is it because women experience the pain of a ‘glass ceiling’ to reach senior levels – something that is never talked about or blatantly visible, but only to be felt, experienced, and that too only by women employees. Several Western countries have been having debates on whether such a glass ceiling indeed exists…do such discussions happen in India? Is it high time such a dialog started in India?

Let’s look at India a little more closely. Traditionally in India, educated women  have been employed as nurses, teachers, secretaries, and bank employees. The new economy sectors such as IT and ITES have provided employment opportunities for women like none before. At ‘skilled category’ level, a small percentage of women work in facilities like precision component assembly units, where the dexterity with which they use their fingers make them a perfect fit for the role. Then, of course there are industries like apparel, fashion, jewelry, advertising, etc, that play to the creative talents in women.

Over the last decade, realizing the benefits of having a diverse workforce for business performance, several global organizations have started Diversity programs. One common initiative is to make conscious efforts to increase the percentage of women at various levels in their organizations – in other words, diversity metrics like % women in the workforce.

However, it must be said that through all these efforts, we are only scratching at the surface as the corporate world is missing out on a large productive population out there who’s still not part of the labor force.

Here’s where I’d like to ask - Can we as HR professionals, revisit some of the moth-balled excuses and prejudices that still exist for not recruiting women, e.g. “The moment she gets married, she’d leave her job’, ‘she takes leave often to attend to her family needs, ‘she can’t work late in case of urgent deadlines’, ‘Maternity leave is expensive and it means I will not have a team member for 90 days or more, ‘she can’t go on tours’, ‘a majority of women are not REALLY serious about their careers”…and so on.

Wearing the hat of a pragmatist, in today’s context, dual household income has almost become a must due to factors like increasing consumerism, high cost of living, a strong desire to ‘do the best’ for our children, e.g. providing best possible schooling and facilities to our children, etc…In such a situation, can women from middle class families afford not to consider having a working  career and be content just being a homemaker?

Can we then be aware and reflect upon our own biases, prejudices and fears as HR professionals and human beings? Before we convince the line managers and the top management, it’s important that we have a strong conviction that having a greater representation of women in our organization will lead to improved business performance and foster harmony at the workplace.

So, when we are next hiring for a position, let’s ask ourselves: Can this responsibilities of this position be carried out well by both a competent man or woman?

Uncategorized Dr. PVR Murthy