through the inveterate glass ceiling, that is. india inc.
Out of 543 members in the Lok Sabha, 59 are women – 10.8%. The percentage sure beats the B&E Power 100 representation of women CEOs, 3%! Interestingly, all three – Chanda Kochhar (CEO, ICICI Bank, ranked 12), Shikha Sharma (MD and CEO, Axis Bank, ranked 31) and Renu Challu (MD, State Bank of Hyderabad, ranked 81), as is obvious, belong to the banking sector. But interestingly again, the ‘3%’ lady CEO representation benchmark of B&E Power 100 is exactly the same as Fortune 500’s comparative figure. In the Fortune 500 list (2009), there are just 15 companies which are led by women CEOs. On the contrary, the total participation of women in managerial, professional and related positions in the US has actually been a healthy 50.8% in 2008. So does India Inc. currently have a ‘Glass Ceiling’? That question was answered decades before Wall Street Journal invented the term in 1985.
So what’s the solution? Globally, some countries have gone the reservation way: In 2008, the Norway Government introduced a quota which necessitated the top 500 publicly traded companies to fill 40% of their boardroom seats with women or get delisted. France has introduced a 20% quota for women in the corporate world, while Spain has opted for a preferential treatment of companies that have more women in top management. In India, the Department of Company Affairs has suggested a 20% reservation for women in the board room, though the idea has been rejected since. Well, a 2006 Wharton study did show that even the mere announcement of a woman CEO being appointed results in more shareholder value destruction than the announcement of a male CEO being appointed. So much for empowerment, emancipation, and equal opportunity employment :-)
Out of 543 members in the Lok Sabha, 59 are women – 10.8%. The percentage sure beats the B&E Power 100 representation of women CEOs, 3%! Interestingly, all three – Chanda Kochhar (CEO, ICICI Bank, ranked 12), Shikha Sharma (MD and CEO, Axis Bank, ranked 31) and Renu Challu (MD, State Bank of Hyderabad, ranked 81), as is obvious, belong to the banking sector. But interestingly again, the ‘3%’ lady CEO representation benchmark of B&E Power 100 is exactly the same as Fortune 500’s comparative figure. In the Fortune 500 list (2009), there are just 15 companies which are led by women CEOs. On the contrary, the total participation of women in managerial, professional and related positions in the US has actually been a healthy 50.8% in 2008. So does India Inc. currently have a ‘Glass Ceiling’? That question was answered decades before Wall Street Journal invented the term in 1985.
So what’s the solution? Globally, some countries have gone the reservation way: In 2008, the Norway Government introduced a quota which necessitated the top 500 publicly traded companies to fill 40% of their boardroom seats with women or get delisted. France has introduced a 20% quota for women in the corporate world, while Spain has opted for a preferential treatment of companies that have more women in top management. In India, the Department of Company Affairs has suggested a 20% reservation for women in the board room, though the idea has been rejected since. Well, a 2006 Wharton study did show that even the mere announcement of a woman CEO being appointed results in more shareholder value destruction than the announcement of a male CEO being appointed. So much for empowerment, emancipation, and equal opportunity employment :-)
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