There has been an increase in the representation of women in leadership roles in Indian corporates, with women holding 17.1 percent of the board seats in India in 2021, compared with 13.8 percent in 2018, according to a recent survey.

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However, globally, representation of women in boardrooms increased at a snail’s pace of 2.8 percent from 16.9 percent of the board seats in 2018 to 19.7 percent in 2021, Deloitte's ‘Women in the Boardroom’ report said. At the current pace, near-parity in representation across the globe can only be reached in 2045, the report said.

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The seventh edition of Deloitte Global’s ‘Women in the Boardroom’ report includes updates from 72 countries on representation of women in the boardroom and trends behind these numbers. The most notable increases in the number of women in boardrooms were seen in the US, UK, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Canada, Spain, Poland and Portugal.

Although the percentage of women chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) in India has gone up to 4.7 percent and 3.9 percent in 2021, respectively, the number of women occupying the chairperson’s position has gone down in the past three years, the consulting and auditing company said in the findings released on February 8.

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In 2021, only 3.6 percent of board chairpersons were women, compared with 4.5 percent in 2018, 3.2 percent in 2016 and 2.7 percent in 2014.

The average age of women board members is 57.4 years compared with the average age of 61.1 years of men board members in India.

Yet, the average tenure of women board members is less than that of men. In India, the average time that a woman occupies a board seat has gone up to 5.1 years in 2021 from five years in 2018. However, the average time served by men on the board is 8.1 years.

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The rise in the number of women board members comes on the back of the Companies Act, 2013, making it mandatory to have at least one woman member on every board.

Despite efforts of the Indian regulators, there is a significant gap between the ideated measures and ground realities, Atul Dhawan, Chairperson of Deloitte India, said in a statement.

“It is time that gender diversity and gender parity get more focused attention from Indian corporations,” Dhawan said.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Feb 11, 2022 7:46 PM IST