A summit on Building Women’s Leadership Pipelines was organised by the government of Maharashtra and two reputed organisations, Tatva and Nasscom, where they discussed about how Indian women, despite their achievements, do not manage to get consistent representation as leaders in organisations. The summit was conducted in the Mumbai Cricket Association and Recreational Centre at Bandra-Kurla Complex on Wednesday.
Today, women are defining their own leadership styles as they move ahead in their field of work. In addition, the styles that they incorporate as leaders are turning into benchmarks and they are becoming role models for other aspiring women leaders.
According to Valsa Nair Singh, metropolitan commissioner, “Women have always been assigned the role of the caretaker. But today, women are out in the job field, earning a steady income along with their husbands. They are chief executive officers, politicians, engineers, doctors and so on. Yet, we lag behind, as only 11 per cent of women find representation in the Parliament, and only 7 per cent of the companies that are listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange have female chief officers. Considering we make 50 per cent of the population, this number is extremely low. There is also a regressive mindset among people to deter women from taking up jobs in technical fields. Women need to be empowered enough to get representation in the corporate leadership as well as the government.”
Women are also victims of sexism that they are subjected to, not only by the men in the organisation, but even their female counterparts. Therefore, women need to be brave and alert, Ms Singh added.
Building a pipeline of women leaders and equipping them with strategies to survive in a competitive environment while remaining collaborative, has emerged as a top priority in the IT-BPM industry. Grooming women for leadership roles is a major thrust area for most organisations, added NGO Tatva.