Companies need women too if they are to succeed

K. Aravind

There is a woman behind the success of every man, so goes the saying. Similarly, a study by Bank of America and Merrill Lynch found that at least two women are behind the success of every company. But in the case of companies in India, the women friendly approach is few and far between.

According to the report, the market places special value on the shares of companies in the Asia-Pacific region with at least two women board members. According to the report, the ratio of share price to earnings per share of such companies is high and profit-margin and dividend-yield are good. The report finds that gender diversity improves companies’ return on equity and market value.

At the same time, the report says that the representation of women in companies in the Asia-Pacific region is relatively low. Women make up 49 per cent of Asia’s population. Women account for 36 per cent of the GDP. But only 12 per cent of women on the board of Indian companies are women. The study found that companies with at least two women on board excel in size and business than other companies.

At the same time, the representation of women in Indian companies is still low. Surveys show that India lags far behind in the representation of women on company boards of directors. Although women make up 40 per cent of the workforce in India, there are less than 10 per cent women on the board of directors of Indian companies. Despite the increasing representation of women in various fields such as politics and business, we will have a long way to go to achieve gender equality at the helm of corporate India.

Women like Kiran Majumdar are at the helm of the corporate world in India. But the overall representation of women in corporate leadership in India is very little. The move comes in the wake of a series of protests against the gender bias in companies’ managements. The Companies Act, 2014 stipulates that at least one woman should be included in the boards of directors of listed companies in India. Many companies try to comply with this stipulation by hiring female relatives or friends. At the same time, SEBI has stated that companies should have at least one independent woman board member, but many companies have not yet complied with it.