More women taking leadership positions in India: Report

Even as there is still low gender parity in workplace, India is making great strides in eliminating it by gaining highest momentum (25 per cent) in the world with more and more women taking leadership positions, according to a report.
According to a report by LinkedIn, India, which has historically lagged in hiring women into leadership positions, has gained significant momentum with the largest percentage increase being hired into leadership roles (25 per cent).
However, the report has revealed that in terms of women currently holding leadership positions India is among the lowest, indicating that there are still barriers which needs to be overcome.

Out of the 10 countries in the report Canada, the US and France have the highest percentage of women in leadership, with an average of one third of women holding roles of director-level and above.
The report is based on LinkedIn data globally, including that of India, showing how members choose to use the site, which can vary based on professional, social and regional culture.
Further, the report also revealed that globally there is close leadership gap is sectors like education and non-profit industries.

The education and non-profit sector is leading the way in closing the gap between male and women leaders, it said

In these sectors, women are being hired for 47 per cent of leadership positions, the report added.
Healthcare and pharmaceuticals also has a high number of women in leadership with nearly half of leadership positions being held by women (46 per cent).
The report said the technology industry witnessed the largest change with a 18 per cent increase in women leaders hired.
As per the report, however, the oil and energy industry reduced its hiring of women leaders by 5 per cent.
The top three job titles that have seen the strongest growth are all technology roles, including user experience designer (67 per cent increase), chief technology officer (60per cent increase) and web developer (40 per cent increase).

Meanwhile, it also found that even with 56 per cent women holding the position of chief human resource officer, women CEOs still make up only 18 per cent of the workforce.
At the director-level, hiring for women in the Director of Information Technology role has increased by 57 per cent since 2008.
LinkedIn report also showed that diversity and inclusion is becoming a priority for companies worldwide.
More than 37 per cent of talent acquisition leaders believe that diversity will be the number one trend defining the future of hiring, it added.