Gender parity in boardrooms: Long way to go

Women’s presence in Indian boardrooms is growing steadily over the past five years in tunewith changing times in the world of Indian corporates.

The affairs in the boards are fastchanging in terms of shouldering the responsibilities of directorial and managerial roles.While strides have been made, persistent challenges and the need for concerted efforts toensure equitable opportunities for women across all levels of the corporate hierarchy isgrowing by the day.

A survey by The Fourth Excellence Enablers on Corporate Governancehighlights that while the presence of women independent directors (IDs) on boards hasbeen mandated, there is a lack of similar provisions for the progression of women executives toboard positions.

What is significant to be noted is that over the past five years, theproportion of women directors in the top 100 companies has risen from 19% to 26%,showcasing a notable upward trend in gender representation at the board level. It is not just this.

There has been a rise in companies with multiple women independent directors. By March 2023, the corporates saw a new trend. Initially there were only two or moreindependent directors. But now the number has surged to 61 compared to five years ago.

This signals a significant diversification of board compositions. There has been positive shiftwith many companies appointing women at managing director’s level.

Encouragingly, thenumber of companies with women in key managerial positions, such as CxOs or positionsone level below directors, has risen to 27 in 2023 from 19 in 2021, according The FourthExcellence Enablers on Corporate Governance.

Globally speaking, Deloitte Global’s latest Women in the Boardroom report reveals someprogress toward gender parity but accelerated momentum is required. It notes that gender parity in the boardroom is unlikely to beachieved before 2038.

There is no clear path to gender parity in the board chair or Chief Executive Officer (CEO)role. At the global level, the report highlighted that women hold less than one-quarter(23.3%) of the world’s board seats.

Just 8.4% of the world’s boards are chaired by womenand 6% of CEOs are womenSoutheast Asia sees an increase in the percentage of board seats held by women – from17.1% in 2021 to 19.9% in 2023 – a 2.8 percentage point uptick.

Some surveys noted that companies with more diverse boards have shown that they tend toperform better financially.According to Deloitte’s findings, in Southeast Asia, countries in the region are making steadyprogress, with an increase in the percentage of board seats held by women – from 17.1% in2021 to 19.9% in 2023 – a 2.8 percentage point uptick.

In the region, Malaysia takes the leadin terms of the percentage of board seats held by women (28.5%), although listedcompanies in Malaysia have yet to meet the target of 30% women directors set in the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance.

Singapore’s 20.8% of board seats held by womentrails the global average of 23.3%, although it surpasses the Asia Pacific average of 14.8%and Southeast Asia average of 19.9%. The Philippines is tied with Singapore with 8.3% offemale board chairs, although the former has marked a higher percentage point growth of3.7 from 2021 as compared to Singapore’s 2.3.

Women currently occupy 20% of board seatsworldwide. Europe leads the way with the highest representation of women on boards. It isinteresting to note that countries like Norway, Italy, and Belgium, are closest to reachingparity.

However, to attain gender parity in boardrooms a lot needs to achieved, just thegovernment role is not enough. Corporates, HR policies and other entities should take aproactive role in achieving this particularly in India.

Currently, Globally, women hold only19.7% of board seats, 6.7% of board chair positions, 5% of CEO positions, and 15.7% of CFOpositions. The percentage needs to improve for diversified and just gender parity boardrooms. As of now women’s representation in the boardroom is a mixed bag.