Path to leadership for women still a struggle, says study

While the representation of women at entry levels in companies has increased from 33% in 2017 to 38% in 2022, the female talent pipeline in managerial roles has gone down by 9% and further dips to 18% in senior managerial levels, the Seventh Edition of the Avtar and Seramount Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) report stated.

 
The report further indicates a dip in female talent by 17% at the corporate executive level. The BCWI report further indicates that 34.86% of women hold positions in  companies, as per the gender distribution across levels, as against men who hold 65.14% of positions. 

Along with the BCWI study, Avtar and Seramount also announced the fourth Edition of the Most Inclusive Companies Index (MICI), an inclusion Index which recognizes companies whose inclusion intent transcends all diversity dimensions.

Companies that participated in the MICI and scored an inclusion score of above 75% were placed in a ‘Champions of Inclusion Index’ and 10 companies were recognised as a part of this in 2022.  Nearly 351 companies spanning different industry sectors participated in the study for BCWI and MICI inclusion index. 

The study indicated that there has been an uptick in the number of companies offering initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion. Gender pay parity too was a priority for the 100 best companies for women in India, with 86% of them having mechanisms to measure and benchmark gender pay equity.

 
Speaking about the BCWI – MICI study, Saundarya Rajesh, Founder-President, Avtar, said that women’s representation continued to improve over a 5-year data frame. While she attributed this to more women at the entry level, she said that the representation of women at senior levels is stark. “To ensure that we are able to permeate balance across corporate levels and build the women’s leadership pipeline, concerted organisational and societal efforts are required” she added. 

EOM.