BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

Dr Roshan Ara
Centre for Women Studies and Research
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India & Member, International Alliance for Women (IAW)
roshanara66@[Link]

Introduction
Every great organizational success, besides other factors, owes its credit to the leader who led it to
glory. Small groups, families, organizations, states, empires, and even the world at large, need
good leaders who can lead their respective followers and organizations to success. Every human
endeavor needs a unifying and driving force for success and that driving force is ultimately traced
to good leadership. Leadership should not be confused with the role of only those who make
headlines but in essence almost everyone has sometimes, somewhere, somehow played a leading
role. Although a few women have made it to the very top in the world of work, yet largely their
presence in senior management level is negligible. For last about three decades, women have
been entering the professional and managerial ranks of many corporations at about the same rate
as men, yet they remain dramatically underrepresented at senior levels.
There is persistent discrimination against women in promotion which keeps women in low wage
positions with little opportunities for upward mobility. Women face a double obstacle in
attempting to achieve workplace equality mainly because the centuries old gender ideologies bar
them from entering well paying occupations, and when they enter those well-paying fields they
are prevented from moving up. Women representation at the top level of management is
proportionately very low compared to men. There is a solid glass ceiling that exists and that
resists women’s movement in their upward ladder of career growth. This suggests that there needs
to be systemic changes if companies are serious about bringing in greater diversity in their
management and encouraging competent women to overcome the hurdles that society places in
their career path”. The very fact of women being adequately represented in the work-force, but
hardly present in the senior managerial positions has been labeled as “the glass ceiling”, “a barrier
so delicate that it is transparent, yet so strong that it prevents women from moving up in the
management hierarchy. The "glass ceiling" comes in many forms: women’s under-representation
at the corporate hierarchy, gendered wage gap, occupational segregation, discriminative corporate
policies, lack of attention to the specific needs women have, sexual harassment at the workplace,
and exclusion of women from informal networks.

Women in India particularly experience a slower progression compared to their male

counterparts. While entry is easier, growth slows and in most situations regardless of their
qualifications, performances or achievements, women are prevented from climbing the corporate
ladder to the top. The glass ceiling has proved resistant to affirmative action, sensitization of
senior managers and human resources staff, measures to promote work-family balance and a
broad recognition that investing in the talents and qualities of both women and men at all
organizational levels makes good business sense. The existence of the glass ceiling that holds
back the progress of women is a prime example of discrimination against women at work.

This paper analyses the current state of women leadership in the corporate world, studies the
existence of 'glass ceiling' phenomenon, and barrier to women's advancement in the management
jobs across the countries in general and in India in particular and suggest measures for
development of women leadership in organizations.

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Women in Leadership Roles
The view of leadership as a masculine term makes women less likely to be perceived as
effective leaders or even to be considered for leadership positions. Various social scientists
have, however, explored certain qualities in females which increase the probability of being a
successful leader. Communal characteristics, which are ascribed more strongly to women than
men, describe primarily a concern with the welfare of other people–for example, affectionate,
helpful, sensitive, nurturing, and gentle. A substantial amount of research reveals that men are
more autocratic or directive than women, and women are more democratic or participative than
men. Women tend to perform multitasking which is a key feature of a successful leader in
today’s highly globalised world (Priola, 2004). Overall, women prefer an interactive style, and
men prefer a command and control style. A critical review of relevant studies reveals that
women show a bit more democratic and participative leadership styles and a bit less
directive/autocratic styles than their male counterparts (Eagly & Johnson, 1990, Eagly, et. al.,
2003, Merchant, 2012). Women’s leadership styles can be defined as people-based, role
modelling and clear expectations and rewards (Mckinsey, 2009). The implications of women’s
more democratic and participative styles for their effectiveness are not clear-cut, in view of
arguments that the effectiveness of these styles is likely dependent on features of the group or
organizational environment (Vroom & Yetton, 1973). Some studies even showed that female
managers are more transformational than male managers and female managers tend to motivate
followers with positive, reward-based incentives while as men offer a larger measure of less
effective and more negative threat-based incentives (Eagly & Engen, 2003). Women are rated
more competent in taking initiative, practicing self-development, integrity and honesty and
driving for results. On a global scale, women experience specific challenges of double burden,
confidence, and a disadvantage from perceptions and stereotypes, when aiming for leadership
positions and undertaking leadership roles.
For holistic empowerment of women, women’s active participation in decision making is to be
ensured for the achievement of the goals of equality, development and peace. For true equality to
become a reality for women, the sharing of power on equal terms with men must be a major
strategy ‘Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies’. The significant increase in women leaders is being
facilitated through political, economic, social, educational and status changes in our culture.
Women leaders express the same general leadership qualities as men but may have leadership
styles particularly suited to today’s needs. Earlier, the concept of women leadership was absent and
we heard only about few leaders like an occasional queen, Civic or society leader, head of a family
through inheritance. Women in these positions were considered exceptional individuals rather than
role models for other women.

The history of women in leadership roles always speaks of struggle and hard work and challenges
surround her from her early childhood. While both men and women enter the workforce at levels
comparable to each other, after a certain point of time, there occurs a divergence in their career
paths (Davidson and Burke, 2011). Due to demographic changes, the labour force is shrinking and
closing gender gaps is paramount to restock the labour force. Women have also reversed the gender
gap in education and are now better educated than men in many countries. Women add value
because they bring different perspectives to the table. In several studies a positive correlation
between companies with more women in senior leadership and boards of directors and better than
average financial performance has been found, although the evidence is not conclusive. Women
are shown to have positive effects that improve corporate performance. Research in Fortune 500
companies found that Return on Equity increased by 53%, Profit Margin by 42%, and Return on

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Invested Capital by 66%. A research amongst 7280 leaders shows that women excel at most
leadership competencies like taking initiative, practicing self-development, integrity and honesty
and driving for results (Zenger Folkman, 2012). Companies with the highest gender diversity
teams, as compared to the industry average, see a much higher Return on Equity (10%), a higher
operating result (48%), and a stronger stock price growth (70%)(McKinsey, 2009) Companies with
more women on their boards have also shown better corporate governance and ethical behaviour
(Franke, 1997; Wilson & Atlantar, 2009). Companies with three or more women board directors in
four of five years, on average, outperformed companies with zero women board directors―by 84%
return on sales, 60% return on invested capital, and 46% return on equity. Companies with more
women in top leadership positions, on average, far outperform those with fewer female leaders;
companies with more female board directors are likelier to have more women in senior leadership
positions five years later; and companies with more women in senior leadership positions practice
more corporate philanthropy and likely also have higher-quality corporate social responsibility
initiatives. Several studies examining Fortune 500 and 1000 corporations and broader samples of
U. S. and European companies found that the higher the percentage of women in such positions, the
better the financial outcomes.

Present State of Women Leadership

Today we find the presence of women in every sphere and we have women as State Heads,
scientists, Judges, Governors, Senators, CEOs and even Ambassadors. For last about three
decades, women have been entering the professional and managerial ranks of many corporations at
about the same rate as men, yet they remain dramatically underrepresented at senior levels. Despite
evidence that having more female leaders is a recipe for business success, female CEOs are still in
the minority. Women are almost ten times less represented than men in top positions at the firm.
Only 19 of the Fortune 500 CEOs (3.8 percent) in 2015 were women and women hold about 15%
of Fortune 500 board seats and corporate executive positions. The worldwide statistics shows that
women take 20 percent of senior managerial positions in the US and 19 percent in the world on an
average. In US and Europe 25 percent of companies do not have women in senior management at
all. According to European Professional Women’s Network an average proportion of women board
directors in 11 European countries were reported to be 8 percent varying from 2percent in Italy and
up to 22 percent in Norway. In the United Kingdom, they account for 4% of CEOs and 15% of
board seats in the top 100 UK-headquartered companies. Exceptions include countries with a legal
mandate for diversity, most notably, Norway, where 40% of board seats in public companies need
to be held by women. Organizations’ so-called “family-friendly” practices have failed to close the
gender gap at more senior levels, suggesting that impediments to women’s advancement are more
complex and elusive than deliberate forms of sex discrimination or family responsibilities.

Women today are still less likely than men to have the line experience required to get the top job.
A 2011 McKinsey report showed that 62% of senior women in the largest US corporations were in
staff jobs, such as HR and Communications, that rarely lead to a CEO role; in contrast, 65% of
men on executive committees held line jobs. The gender imbalance in leadership positions in the
private sector continues to disappoint and frustrate leaders who have put considerable money and
effort behind various initiatives to advance women and yet rarely get breakthrough results for their
investments. Female participation in top-management (CEO and directors reporting to the CEO)
stands at 12.9% at the end of 2013, but varies considerably from sector to sector and country to
country. The participation of women in top management tends to be skewed towards areas of less
influence and with lower promotion opportunities.

As the debate about diversity has picked up pace, so too has the increase in female board
representation as Table 1 confirms. Even between 2012 and 2013, we have seen a significant drop

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from 39% to 34% in the number of companies, globally, without any women on their boards.
Over 50% of European companies have more than 20% women on board, almost double the level
in North America. Japan has just 1.6% women directors. In Australia, women now comprise
17.5% of directors but still only 8% in Singapore. While the 48% of companies, globally, that had
fewer than 10% women on boards in 2012 has fallen to 40% in 2013, it is still a very material
number. While the news on the representation of women on boards appears good: the trend is up in
almost every country and every sector. However, there is still considerable progress to be made
outside North America and Europe

Table 1: Percentage of Women on Boards by Country

2010 2011 2012 2013

Global average 9.6% 10.3% 11.3% 12.7%
Australia 10.8% 13.7% 15.5% 17.5%
Belgium 15.2% 15.8% 18.9% 23.2%
Brazil 5.6% 6.1% 5.7% 6.5%
Canada 12.5% 13.5% 14.9% 15.9%
China 8.8% 9.0% 9.6% 10.7%
France 16.1% 21.6% 25.1% 29.6%
Germany 11.8% 14.0% 18.5% 23.0%
India 5.5% 5.8% 6.2% 6.7%
Indonesia 5.9% 5.6% 6.1% 5.0%
Japan 0.9% 1.1% 1.2% 1.6%
Malaysia 8.0% 8.6% 10.0% 10.9%
New Zealand 15.6% 19.6% 21.3% 19.6%
Norway 36.6% 38.7% 37.2% 39.7%
Pakistan 2.4% 2.2% 2.5% 1.5%
Russia 6.8% 7.1% 7.7% 8.1%
Singapore 7.9% 8.0% 8.6% 7.9%
South Africa 18.1% 17.8% 18.8% 20.0%
South Korea 0.7% 0.9% 0.7% 2.4%
Sweden 28.9% 27.8% 27.3% 30.3%
Switzerland 8.6% 8.9% 9.3% 11.3%
Turkey 8.2% 9.2% 8.5% 6.6%
UK 10.1% 11.9% 15.5% 17.9%
US 12.7% 12.8% 13.3% 13.7%

Source: Credit Suisse Research – sample size 27,000 directors

While national cultures and policies shape women’s participation in national workforces, sectoral
cultures and practices also play a significant role. Today’s leaders have inherited company and
industry cultures in which women participate to varying degrees. Across all industries, women’s
workforce participation at junior, middle and senior levels is dramatically different. Projecting
their figures for 2020, companies expect some improvement, spread unevenly across different
industries. However, across all industries there is a narrowing female talent pipeline heading
towards senior management. Having invested in women as they enter in junior positions,
employers appear to frequently lose their investment by failing to retain talent up the ladder
(Table 2). On average, responding CHROs predict that the gender composition of today’s junior

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 roles will be reflected in 2020’s mid-level roles, and that the gender breakdown of today’s mid-
level roles will similarly carry through to 2020’s senior roles. Across industries, there are
expectations of a 7 to 9 percentage point increase in the share of women in mid-level roles by
2020 and an 8 to 13 percentage point increase in senior roles. This suggests an expectation that
the workforce strategies employed to promote gender parity will be successful in retaining and
promoting the majority of incoming female talent, against past experience. The projections for
industries’ gender composition for senior, middle and junior roles in 2020 build on varying
proportions today. Four industries—Basic and Infrastructure, Energy, Mobility and Information
and Communication Technology—currently report a low overall female workforce participation:
16%, 19%, 19% and 24%, respectively (Table 2).

Table 2: Women’s workforce participation by industry (% share of female workforce)

Senior Roles Mid-level roles Junior roles Line Roles Staff Roles

Industry CEOs Board Current 2020 Current2020 Current2020 Current 2020 Current 2020
Group Members
Basic and 2 35 9 17 13 21 22 29 14 23 20 27
Infrastructure
Consumer 10 21 16 24 26 33 33 37 31 34 37 41
Energy 0 32 11 20 19 27 24 27 19 25 22 30
Financial 9 19 20 30 33 40 43 43 35 39 42 43
Services
Healthcare 6 — 15 28 31 44 39 46 44 49 41 48
ICT 5 19 11 20 21 29 32 34 23 32 33 38
Media 13 22 25 33 25 32 35 36 38 43 47 46
Mobility 9 17 13 21 21 30 28 33 25 31 34 36
Professional 9 23 22 34 33 40 39 43 44 44 44 46
Services
Overall 9% 28% 15% 25% 24% 33% 33% 36% 30% 34% 35% 39%

Source: World Economic Forum(2016), The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy
for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Global Challenge Insight Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva.

As a result of the continuing existence of the glass ceiling, women have left the corporate world
in large numbers to start their own businesses. As of 2005, there are an estimated 10.1 million
majority-owned, privately-held, women-owned firms in the U.S., employing 18.2 million people
and generating $2.32 trillion in sales. Since 1987, the number of women-owned firms in the U.S.
has doubled, employment has increased four-fold, and their revenues have risen five-fold. Among
the BRIC countries, 42 percent of top managerial positions in Russia are held by women, 31
percent in China, 29 percent in Brazil. The Philippines leads where 47 percent of all top jobs go to
women. Despite an increasing number of women reaching senior management positions, the top
levels are still male-dominated.

It is quite amazing that women leaders in many countries are forced to quit for one or the other
reason just for being women, like the Presidents of Brazil , South Korea, Park Guen Hye, was also
charged with corruption and forced to resign. In the same way, in 2015, president of Philippines
was blocked to Govern properly by male opposition leader after his defeat in the election. Even
male mindset in US did not provide an opportunity to Hillary Clinton in two consecutive elections
to assume the role of a world leader and instead preferred male leadership which was in no way
based on merit and democratic atmosphere. United Nations Organization, the world body that
promotes Gender Equality and Empowerment, did not so far accept a woman Secretary General.
Yet much has not changed and a lot needs to be done for breaking the Glass ceilings and

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encourage women to enter the male basin with a confident and autonomous style of leadership to
govern and prove that they can lead to a better world of peace and prosperity.

Women in Management in India

While Indian corporations have not yet fully recognized or utilized women talent pool, the
growing gender diversity in Indian managerial ranks now offers a pathway for change for Indian
women. Cultural and societal change means a shift away from traditional views, stereotypes and
societal attitudes, with increasing opportunities for Indian women in management. While change
is slow for Indian women to gain executive positions, they have made progress in management in
a relatively short time. As more Indian women enter the workforce, particularly in the corporate
world, this change is in dramatic contrast to the traditional Indian culture, where a woman’s
expected role has been to marry, raise the family and take care of the household. The percentage
of women in management in India is roughly 3% to 6%, with approximately 2% of Indian women
managers in Indian corporations. However, almost 96% of women workers are in the unorganized
sector. Of the Fortune 500 companies, there was just one Indian woman, Indra Nooyi, ex- CEO
of Pepsi Co. In India, 11% of large-company chief executives are women. The success stories of
few women making it to the top are ‘feel good factor’ providing an impression that position and
status of women is changing in Indian management sector. But barring a handful like Ms. Indra
Nooyi, Chanda Kochhar, Mazumdar-Shaw, an overwhelming majority of Indian boardrooms are
still ‘no-go’ areas for women. India's performance is well below the global average of 24 percent
with Indian women holding only 15 percent of top managerial positions in private firms in the
country. According to a study 2 women per 100 economically active men take administrative and
managerial positions in India. As per a Confederation of Indian Industry study covering 149 large
and medium size companies, women comprise 16 percent at junior management level, 4 percent
at middle and senior levels, and only 1 percent in organizational leadership positions. Women
represent just 11 percent of India corporate sector CEOs—a statistic skewed by the fact that more
than half the women CEOs hail from the banking and financial services industry, and one-third
come from the business promoter/ owner families.

According to a survey done by Economic times, there are only16 women on the board of directors
of the 30 sensex companies, or only 4.8% of the 335 people who hold directorship positions. In
the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 100 companies, which throws up 923 directors, only 50 (or
5.4%) are women, while companies in the BSE 500 index have only 192 women (or 5.3%) out of
3650 persons holding directorship positions. Today it is about calibrating how many of women
are in the key leadership roles. According to Catalyst India Benchmarking report for 2010, only
17% of Indian companies offered target leadership development program for women. Indian
companies have much lower women representation in senior position (5-6%) compared with
Multinational Firms (15-20%) women at the same level in 2010.

India is perhaps the first country among the developing nations that has chosen to make
representation of women on company boards mandatory through the regulating agency, the
Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI (Stock Exchange Board of India). In an effort to check
the imbalances in boardrooms, Ministry of Corporate Affairs in the Company’s Act, 2013,
introduced the concept of making it mandatory for companies to appoint at least one woman
director in the company board. Gender diversity in boardrooms is being strongly advocated by
many corporate houses simply because of the difficult financial crisis, corporate scandals and
scams and poor corporate governance that plagued the reputation of financial sectors in recent
past and adversely affected the corporate houses.

As opportunities for women in management in India slowly increase, women are entering
professions previously seen as the domain of men in the corporate world: advertising, banking,

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civil services, engineering, financial services, manufacturing, police and armed forces, and
emerging fields such as IT and communications. Women in India have held important roles in
politics, social organizations and administration. In spite of cultural and social taboos, more and
more educated women are able to reach very high levels in the government, and the number of
women in the corporate sector is gradually growing. There is no doubt that they have to
constantly prove their efficiency to go up each step of the ladder. Corporate Indian women, earlier
docketed into the routine repetitive work sectors like information technology, now head several
national and Indian offices of international banks. The developments in information technology
and related services sectors are helping women in India to move out of their traditional household
roles and develop a career in organizations.

Men are willing to accept women as their leaders, provided they display the character and
capability. Due to strong societal changes, there is now thinking at the very top level, about
inclusive growth, with legislation likely to follow to ensure a certain percentage of women are
represented in the Federal Parliament, state legislatures and local/community groups. This could
well result in Indian industry having to voluntarily take affirmative action quickly or fall in line
with the law, and think hard about how to increase the number of women in management,
particularly at senior levels in their organizations. In India, there are a growing number of
industry forums and networks that actively help women managers deal more effectively with
corporate challenges, particularly with progressing in their careers. But, women are still
concentrated in the most unsafe forms of work throughout the world and breaking the “glass
ceiling” still appears difficult for most women. Although a few women have made it to the very
top in the world of work, yet largely their presence in senior management level is negligible.
Women continue to face more difficulty obtaining top jobs than they do lower down the
hierarchy. A handful of women are making headlines here and there as they break through, but
they represent only a few percent of top management jobs.

Barriers to Women Advancement in Corporate Sector

There are various reasons contributing to the existence of glass ceiling in management profession
which is extremely complex and varied. Some of the reasons are as follows:

▪ The stereotypes and preconceptions towards women that they are fragile and lacking in the
qualities that are considered useful to be effective Leaders
▪ Traditional masculine traits having higher value than feminine traits in management world
also prevents women managers in climbing the ladder to the top. Top posts are generally
characterized by masculine aggressive values and suitability for them is decided mostly
according to male criteria;
▪ Women are primarily placed in non-strategic sectors rather than in the so-called “line”
positions that involve financial decision-making or revenue-generating
▪ Mentoring which plays an important role in the advancement of leaders is often limited to
women, which in turn results in a lack of access and training and career development
activities.
▪ Women’s career paths tend to be more tortuous and broken up than those of men which
are typically clear and this impedes women’s progress to top positions. Women often have
to deal with the complexities of the dual role. Many times they have to make
compromises, prioritizing family life over work life which slowdown their careers.

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 ▪ Women workers still bear more of the main burden of family responsibilities than men
and so have less time for the “extracurricular” formal and informal networking essential
for advancement in enterprises.
▪ Inability to stay late at work and a disinclination for jobs involving travel, transfers has
been identified as other major factor for women not achieving top positions.
▪ Women are primarily placed in non-strategic sectors rather than in the positions that
involve financial decision-making or revenue-generating responsibilities, like sales and
production positions that are critical for advancement to the top.
▪ Lack of information and knowledge regarding training and attainment of skills related to
job area and leadership qualities impact advancement in career.
▪ Inability to stay late at work and a disinclination for jobs involving travel and transfers
have been identified as another major factors for women in not achieving top positions.
▪ Women manager lack effective career planning. Unlike men they generally don‟t have
fixed career goals and they lack determination to overcome the obstacles that exist to keep
them from accomplishing their goals.
▪ Women managers also have their own inner battles, which need to be fought and
overcome. Many women do not aspire for higher management positions as that would
burden them with greater responsibilities, demand more work time and commitment and
on the other hand disrupt family life.
Based on research, Table 3 reveals three main obstacles to achieving greater gender diversity:
cultural biases; workplace-related biases; and structural/policy issues. We find cultural and
education issues the most challenging to overcome in the short term and we believe that policy—
but not quotas—can improve the current situation significantly. Arguably quotas have led to
“tokenism” in some areas rather than an opportunity to create a better management structure.
Rather than setting quotas, regulators should consider improving transparency on this issue by
requiring publicly traded companies to disclose the gender diversity numbers at the different
levels of the organizational structure or at the very least at the top management level. The social
attitudes and the difficulties of work/life balance are often among the major challenges for Indian
women professionals. Sometime women have to be like men to succeed, work/life balance is
almost thrown out of the window, and a small number of women that are working in
organizations are busy trying to compete with each other rather than help other women. Male
colleagues and managers consistently refused to take women seriously.

Table 3: Main Barriers to Women Leadership

Individual Cultural Workplace Structure/policy

Educational choices Perception of female Face time and Lack of shared parental
commitment flexibility leave
Sector choices Double standards Staff rather than Lack of childcare
line role promotions assistance
Pipeline availability Spousal role and Mentoring for women Differentiated taxation
support rather than sponsorship
Risk aversion Work-life balance Promotion rates Organizations designed
disparity priorities for men & manufacturing

Source: Credit Suisse Research

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Women with whatsoever performance records can be held back because they are not seen as
having the potential to lead at a senior level. For example, the women CEOs on a global list of top
performing chief executives were nearly twice as likely as the men to have been appointed to the
job from outside the company: women were less likely to emerge as winners in their own
companies’ internal CEO tournament. Furthermore, even when women are rated more highly than
comparable male peers across a range of leadership behaviours, they are also rated lower than
men on “envisioning”, the dimension most closely associated with effective leadership at senior
levels. Senior-level women suffer from this perception when appointments to top leadership
positions are made. An inspiring example of the benefits that women’s increased role in
leadership can offer comes from India where, in 1993, the constitution was amended to institute
gender quotas for village leaders. Continuing exposure to women leaders eliminated statistical
discrimination by male villagers, impacting future generations’ leadership aspirations, including
teenage girls’ educational outcomes and women’s electoral gains. Women leaders also provided
more public goods, in particular, clean water, than their male counterparts. If this can happen in as
large and complex an “organization” as India, then surely today’s business leaders can lead the
way in the private sector with committed and concrete actions to close gender gaps in business
leadership globally.

Conclusion and Suggestions

There is much work to be done to achieve gender equality within Indian corporations, with
systemic changes needed, to make sustainable change a reality. The transformation in the Indian
context for women in management can happen through policy and regulations that promote
gender diversity and quality contact. Change can occur through the collective will to change the
mindset of people to overcome gender differences at the educational and organizational levels.
Women in Indian organizations felt that such stereotypes result from not being given challenging
assignments. Yet, male managers saw women as being treated more leniently than men when
making mistakes. That is, they associate managerial success with men more than with women.
Women in lower to middle socioeconomic status seek income opportunities, and those in the
upper middle class pursue a career for professional ambitions. Women with higher education have
more interest in independence, are career-oriented and interested in quickly moving up the
organizational ladder. The key challenge for women managers is managing both their traditional
role and their career. Women experience great pressure work hard to prove themselves in the
workplace, and one of the greatest obstacles is how women managers are treated by men. They
often receive differential treatment, reinforcing the stereotypical view of being inferior and less
important than men, resulting in not being offered challenging jobs and not being part of
important organizational issues. Yet, despite social and attitudinal barriers, Indian women have
gained some equality. Indian organizations are beginning to realize that women can do the same
work as men, although in some cases, they have different needs. Overall, Indian organizations
lack sensitivity about these issues and under appreciate women’s capabilities and talents.
Generally, men tend to want women to act like men, and most men are not comfortable working
for a woman manager. Overall, women prefer an interactive style, and men prefer a command and
control style. To be successful in business, women develop management styles that make it more
comfortable for men to work with and/or report to a female manager.

Success stories of women executives point to the fact that education and family support strongly
contribute to the career aspirations of working women. A good education, effective
communication skills (both written and oral) as well as a very professional attitude toward work
and co-workers, are the key to attain managerial roles. Mentors are also important early in
women’s career who gave them full freedom to work and to take decisions and who are real
mentors for them. Mentoring is one of the principle reasons that most women were successfully
able to turn family owned concerns into world-class organizations. To advance women in

9
managerial roles, support by top management is essential. Promoting diverse management
practices and opening doors to women in management— through proactive human resource
policies and programs—is one way for Indian organizations to expand their talent pool and,
ultimately, their leadership pipeline. The specific success factors such as a good education,
mentoring, family support, strong communication skills and lifelong learning—are essential for
Indian women managers today. While traditional Indian cultural viewpoints are slow to change,
positive change for women in the business world in India is moving forward.

Companies should be transparent about their polices relating to employment, promotion, training
.Organizations should go in for gender audits. Managers should be made more accountable for
gender focused results and everyone should go through a gender sensitization process. More
transparency among the staff and the HR department is needed; more employee- friendly HR.
sensitive to women concerns and situation is needed. There should be proper laws regarding
pregnancies, maternity leaves etc. the Laws should prescribed, so that no one manipulates it.
Good support system at family and work place would enable women to fulfill both without being
pressurized to prioritize one above the other. Companies should establish leadership training
explicitly for newly recruited women managers in the recognition that promotion to middle- level
and senior –level often entails appointment to leadership positions.

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