India needs to catch up

Several companies have undertaken special drives to increase women's participation

Amit Tandon’s column, “Gender diversity on Indian boards: 20% by 2020” (May 31), throws light on the present status of gender diversity in corporate boards and the likelihood of achieving a respectable level of participation of women directors in management by 2020. 

It is heartening that the implementation of compliance requirements of the Companies Act, 2013, has progressed substantially with NIFTY 500 companies, data for which showed a significant increase in women’s participation in the top management of Indian companies — from five per cent a few years ago to 13 per cent now. This development indicates conviction in the importance of women’s participation in decision-making at large corporate houses. Mere compliance would not have been enough. 

While Tandon talks about the top rung, we also need to look at women’s participation and gender diversity at all levels of the organisation and also in the social and political arena of the country. Several companies, which are not in the NIFTY 500, have undertaken special drives to increase women’s participation across different areas of work. For example, companies are targeting and ensuring that 50 per cent of trainee-engineer recruitments are women. Such drives have a long-term impact on gender diversity and may culminate in women directors naturally reaching the top of the ladder without any mandatory requirement of law or reservation. Until that time, legal and governance framework needs to support participation of women. 

While the column focuses on companies, one can’t shy away from the reality in India’s socio-political arena, where the level of participation of women is thin. In the 2014 elections 59 women (the highest since Independence) were elected to the 543-member Lok Sabha — roughly 11 per cent of the total number. Compare this with India’s neighbours. In Bangladesh, the Jatiya Sangshad has 50 women members in a house of 350 — that is, 14 per cent. The National Assembly of Pakistan has 60 women among its 342 members — that is, 18 per cent. In the US there are 104 women in the 535-member Senate, accounting for roughly 20 per cent of the total number.

India needs to catch up with several other countries in respect of participation of women in the public sphere, not just in corporate boards. Such participation sends a strong message about achieving gender diversity to benefit society.

M L Kabir   Kolkata

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