GENDER IMBALANCE AT BOARD LEVEL ?

20 Sep 2010

GENDER IMBALANCE AT BOARD LEVEL ?

As reported in Times of India ( Sept.18,2010 ), a study, conducted jointly by Standard Chartered Bank and Cranfield School of Management re: representation of women on Boards of Directors of Companies, found following figures :

·                      Canada……………………………..15%

·                      USA…………………………………..14.5 %

·                      UK………………………………………12.2 %

·                       Hong Kong………………………….8.9 %

·                      Australia…………………………….8.3 %

·                      India…………………………………..5.3 %

For India, the study tells us that women held 59 out of a total of 1112 directorships in the BSE-100 group.

What the study does not reveal is :

" How many of these 59 women were a mother / sister / daughter / wife of the promoters ?

Co-author of the report Aparna Banerji says :

Corporate India clearly has some way to go in addressing gender imbalance at “ board level ".

But that would not happen till Corporate HR Managers start hiring many more girls at the “ entry level ” - and to begin with, in the HR function itself !

Hemen  Parekh