GENDER EQUALITY: MYTH OR REALITY Prof Dr Shubhada Mohan Kulkarni KCES’s Institute of Management and Research, Jalgaon Maharashtra
[email protected] 9423973141
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GENDER EQUALITY: MYTH OR REALITY Introduction Women Empowerment elaborates that Social Rights, Political Rights, Economic stability, judicial strength and all other rights should be also equal to women. There should be no discrimination between men and woman. (wom16) Many evil and masculine forces still prevail in the modern Indian society that resists the forward march of its women folk.
India is
positioned at the 29th rank among 146 countries across the globe on the basis of Gender Inequality Index. In order to achieve the status of a developed country, India needs to transform its women force into an effective human resource and this is possible only through the empowerment of women. It is believed that economic strength is the basis of social, political and psychological power in the society; thus the lower strata of women mostly stem from their low economic status and subsequent dependence and lack of decision-making power. Therefore if women gain economic strength they gain visibility and voice. Where are all women Leaders? Women are concerned that their employers are not doing enough to close the gender gap in leadership positions, according to a new survey of women in the workforce by Skillsoft. (Times of India, 2015) Key Findings: Nearly all (90%) of the 450 women across the globe who participated in the survey cited there are a disproportionate number of males in leadership positions at work. More than half of the respondents (54%) stated its important for their organizations to offer leadership training specific to women, but nearly 70% of women believe their employers do not provide adequate resources and support to help them drive their careers forward. The respondent’s perceptions mirror the current state of women in corporate leadership globally. In the United States, women hold more than half of all professional-level jobs, yet comprise only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs. In most European countries women comprise less than 20% of all corporate boards and women represent just 6% of corporate boards in Asia.
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To hone in on women’s leadership development, organizations must acknowledge the key factors inhibiting women’s career progression. Skillsoft’s study demonstrates that work-life balance is the top concern for 63% of women. Competing priorities, like domestic responsibilities, often limit the amount of time women have to develop into leaders within their organization, according to a recent Eudemonia study,’ It’s about time: Developing women for business leadership” From a macro perspective, 71% of respondents feel that enough is not being done (fair and poor) within their organizations to address gender imbalance. Just over half of the respondents (53%) say it is very or extremely important to have programmes specifically aimed at developing women leaders as a business objective. Women in today’s workplace see the potential of their role in growing the global economy. Only about one quarter of respondents felt their organizations had a strategy in place to develop women leaders. Another quarter were not aware of any programmes. While these programmes may exist, visibility may be an issue. The largest proportion of responses (66%) indicates that organizations are primarily targeting mid-level leaders for women-specific programmes. Organizations need to make greater strides and commit to developing women throughout their career cycles. Breaking the Glass Ceiling (Singh, 2015) Every sector has a forerunner in a woman who shatters the glass ceiling to reach the top levels of leadership. Satyavati Berera of PwC India has joined the league of such achievers. She is the first woman to become the COO of a Big Four accounting firm in India, a sector known to be largely male-dominated at the top rungs. Working at firms like PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG- the Big Four- can be challenging for women as it entails long hours and extensive travelling, at times even to remote areas.“ Most of our work schedules are governed by the demands of clients and that can at times be a challenge, especially for women. My family initially used to be concerned about my working late hours. But soon they grew out of that. PwC provided a robust support system. This coupled with support on my home front, enabled me to overcome the challenges,” said Berera, who has been a partner with the firm since 1995. 3
At PwC India, the gender diversity in leadership levels is around 30%. At the partner level it’s 11% (global average for PwC is 18%) While Berera believes there is a need to educate male employees and look at ways to break unconscious stereotypes, she feels personal attributes play a pivotal role in shaping one’s career. “I seldom said ‘no’ to any opportunity coming my way. It is important to be open to change and, when needed, push the envelope,” she said. Berera, who has done extensive work across diversified sectors in the areas of governance, risk and compliance services, believes women should not be apologetic about wanting to be successful or ambitious. “One of the biggest mistakes women commit is that they give up too soon and too easily.,” she said. Tata’s to groom 300 women leaders for top posts (Namrata Singh, 2016) The Tata group- India’s largest conglomerate- is putting in place a cross-company mentoring programme. The project will have 300 high-potential women executives mentored by 180 CXOs and 35 CEOs from 45 group companies. The Tata Group, which is the country’s biggest employer of women at 1.45 lakh, has a limited number of women in CXO positions. The aim behind the diversified conglomerate’s mentoring programme is to have more women in leadership positions and it forms a part of gender diversity vision set by group chairman Cyrus Mistry. In March 2014, he had stated that the group wants to have atleast 1,000 women leaders by the end of this decade even as it looks to double the number of women employees during the said period. While it’s easier to improve gender diversity at lower levels, companies across industries are finding it difficult to increase the numbers at the top. As they move up the hierarchy, women managers drop out due to several reasons. Rajan said the mentoring programme reinforces the groups commitment to women and encourage them to stay and be an integral part of its future leadership pool. It acts like a retention tool, shielding women managers from dropping out.The programme will not just be restricted to India but also be applicable in the 100-plus countries where the group operates. Let us look at the situation in the so called developed nation.
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America not ready for female CEO’s (
[email protected]) 86 of 87 New Top Bosses in 2015 were men. Only one among the 87 new CEO’s named to lead the largest public firms in the US and Canada in 2015 was a woman, according to a study released this week by the strategy consulting division of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). That single honour went to Andrea Greenberg, who was named CEO of MSG Networks in September after it was spun off from Madison Square Garden. Worldwide, the PwC study found only 10 women among the 359 permanent or interim CEO’s in the 2,500 largest global companies it examined in 2015. The study, first reported in the Washington Post, said at 2.8% of all new CEO’s, it is the lowest rate of female elevation since 2011. Hillary Clinton’s run for the White house is attracting worldwide notice and there is surge of attention and support for equal pay and equal opportunity for women, the study shows that the rate of new female CEO’s declined for the third year, and dipped to its lowest point since 2004, when PwC began tracking the number. Just 11% of the new CEO’s named to the job last year were women in PwC’s analysis of North American Companies- down from 4% in 2014, 4.7% in 2013, and 7.3% in 2012. Overall in the US, just 4% of S&P 500 CEO’s and Fortune 500 CEO’s are women-dropping from 24 in 2014 to 21 in 2016. But the distribution of female CEO’s is uneven. (Raighatta, 2016) Eight are in the Fortune 100-Merry Barra at General Motors(6), Meg Whitman at HewlettPackard (19), Virginia Rometty at IBM (24), and Indra Nooyi at Pepsi (44), Merillyn Hewson (64) at Lockheed Martin, Safra Catz at Oracle (81), Irene Rosenfeld at Mondalez International (91) and Phebe Novakovik at General Dynamics (100). The remaining 13 are scattered in the bottom 400 of the Fortune 500. While this is a modest improvement from 20 years ago, when there were no female CEO’s in the Fortune 500, questions are now being asked why things are sliding back just as the US is starting to embrace the idea of a woman President. A PwC survey in early 2015 found that 34% of the respondents believe that male executives are better than women at assuming risk, even though 31% said top female executives may be more honest and ethical than male executives. Some surveys have shown that women hold 50% of middle management positions, but that drops to less than 5% at the top level, showing the continued existence of the notorious glass ceiling. 5
Equality is beneficial Paolo Colella, head od Region India, Ericssons talks about how organizations with balanced representation of men and women perform better (taj, 2015) An inclusive environment that nurtures a diverse workforce makes the organization more productive, innovative, agile and more responsive to the internal as well as the external environment, including customers. We need to derive strong performance from all team members if we have to stay ahead of the curve. In order to grow in line with our ambitions, we need to rely on a broader talent pool and this is an important reason for not excluding , by default, 50% of the base for gender reasons. Talent, in my view, is genderless. According to a study, India can increase its 2025 GDP estimated at $ 4.83 trillion, by 16-60% simply by enabling women to participate in the economy on par with men: thus the ideology should be on embracing and leveraging differences for the best possible business outcome. Organizations with balanced representation of men and women perform better. It works on simple logic, each individual brings his/her unique skill set to the table, and this goes beyond gender to include all forms of diversity. Companies need to give equal opportunities to all and hire basis merit. I see diversity as a huge opportunity. The strength lies in taking on board the different perspectives that different individuals on a team bring to the table and use that to better the performance of the organization. Security: You need it Abraham Maslow in his theory of need hierarchy mentions how needs keep changing as the lower level needs are satisfied and then higher level needs emerge as motivators. He starts with the basic needs of food shelter and clothing and then moves towards security needs. This security need is for job security as well as physical security. Let us look at current scenario in this context for women. Many legal provisions are made to provide protection to women. The impact depends on the social system. The situation is good but still lot needs to be improved upon. UN Programme: HeForShe Gender-based violence remains a serious challenge to campus security – and educational opportunity – for students across the world. UN Women is the UN entity dedicated to gender 6
equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. (16No) At the sidelines of the 71st United Nations General Assembly, UN Women unveiled the firstever HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity Report. Launched in 2015, the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 is an initiative that convenes ten heads of state, ten global CEOs and ten university presidents to fast-track gender equality in boardrooms, classrooms and world capitals. The group of 10 IMPACT universities span across eight countries on five continents: Georgetown University, USA; Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), France; Nagoya University, Japan; Stony Brook University, USA; the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; the University of Leicester, UK; University of Oxford, UK; the University of São Paulo, Brazil; the University of Waterloo, Canada; and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. With more than half of the world’s population under 30 and university graduation rates rising, universities have an unprecedented opportunity to make a difference. This report highlights three important critical imbalances that universities can address: 1) the ratio of men to women represented in university faculty and senior administrative positions; 2) the fields of study selected by young women versus young men; and 3) the number of female students at universities compared to their equal access to academic and professional career tracks. The HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality provides a systematic approach and targeted platform on which men and boys can engage and become change agents towards the achievement of gender equality. HeForShe invites men and boys to build on the work of the women’s movement as equal partners, crafting and implementing a shared vision of gender equality that will benefit all of humanity. Conclusion The study shows both positive and negative trends. It is difficult to arrive at any conclusion about whether women enjoy equality, but they definitely deserve better treatment to prosper in future. It is not a reality for many but a dream to be pursued that will empower them.
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References (n.d.). Retrieved Nov 28, 2016, from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2016/09/newheforshe-report-puts-spotlight-on-gender-equality-in-global-universities/ (n.d.). Retrieved Nov 22, 2016, from http://www.iaspaper.net/women-empowerment-in-india/ (2015, Dec 9). Times of India . Namrata Singh, R. Z. (2016, June 13). In a first Tata's to groom 300 women leaders for top posts across group co.s. Times f India . Raighatta, C. (2016, April 23). America ready for 1st woman prez. Times of India . Singh, N. (2015, Dec 29). Breaking the Glass Ceiling. Times of India . taj, Y. (2015, Dec 9). Times of India .
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