Women Leadership: Yes she can!

Leading companies across the world are capitalizing on the talents of women in the workforce.

The statement above seems reasonably accurate, right? Sadly enough, this is not true.

On the contrary, according to the World Economic Forum’s Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010, leading companies are failing to capitalize on the talents of women in the workforce. The idea that most corporations have become gender-balanced or women-friendly is still a myth, it points out.

There are serious gender inequities that need to be rectified. Businesses cannot afford to ignore this clarion call - not just out of fairness but because we are squandering resources by wasting talents and skills of our female human capital.

This is not the first time that we are hearing about the gender gap at the workplace. It is also not the first time we are being told that women add an inimitable value to the workplace. Back in 2007, McKinsey & Co. had also concluded that companies employing at least 30% female executives perform better than all-male outfits.

According to their study Women Matter, female managers are more likely than men to make collaborative decisions, to behave as role models and to consider the ethical consequences of their acts. We are all aware that women naturally possess certain specific character traits. These lead to a response pattern distinct from men to the same work environment.

At HCL too, we found an interesting common thread emerge among women managers. Using Gartner’s IS competencies in our internal 360 Degree Feedback process, we discovered that, as compared with their male counterparts, they were more focussed on customers; better at planning, prioritizing and administering work; and yes, more focussed on results too! This is not to say that there were no male managers who displayed these competencies. But on a macro level, these were a greater strength among women managers.

So clearly, businesses are losing significant competitive advantage by frittering away this invaluable asset. And while this is a global phenomenon, India sits at the bottom of the pack. It had the lowest percentage of women employees (23%) among the countries surveyed - less than half the percentage of women employees in the United States (52%), Spain (48%) and Canada (46%).

We can look at this situation as a glass half empty or a glass half full. As a nation, we have celebrated our women leaders through history, though, clearly, Corporate India doesn’t have enough of them yet. Yes, we are witnessing positive change as companies adopt policies that leverage woman power. But collectively we can do more, much more.

Corporate India has an unprecedented opportunity to maximize this latent power in our midst as we seek to seal our place in the frontlines of global business.  To paraphrase US President Barack Obama on the eve of his visit to India, we have an opportunity to lead the way and demonstrate that, given the right environment, “Yes she can”!

Do you think we will?