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Changes ahead for women executives

Gisele Regatao in Bombay

The Department of Company Affairs has suggested that all public limited and joint stock companies in India must have at least 20 per cent representation by women on their boards. It is, however, not clear how far this suggestion will be accepted and implemented by the said companies. The issue is already raising a storm in the business community.

Female executives insist they have been victims of bias and that the new proposal will give them more representation. The fact that many Indian companies are family owned does not help either. The man is always the head of the house in the traditional Indian family. "Indian shareholders do not want women to climb up," says Sharayu Daftary, president, Indian Merchants Chamber.

One of the few women to occupy a high position in the business community and the first to head the IMC, Daftary says the professional field has not been an open arena for women. She believes there are enough qualified women to occupy at least 20 per cent of the seats in corporate boardrooms and that all they need is the opportunity to show their capability.

Most male executives are, however, against the proposal. Ajay Shah, vice-president, Bombay Industries Association, feels having women on boards should not be made mandatory. According to him, the measure will make most companies name women without qualifications to their boards just to fulfill the law. "Women should be on boards based on their merit," he insists.

Indian industry in general have not accepted women in high positions so far. According to Shah, less than five per cent of industry have female executives. Asked if the reason for that is prejudice on the part of the male shareholders, his answer is an evasive, "Maybe."

Critics say the protection for women in corporate boardrooms will raise a backlash from other groups. As it happened in the past, favouritism to certain communities attracted criticism all over the country. The reservation of employment for members of the scheduled castes, for example, has created much resentment among professionals who say they are losing jobs for no fault of theirs but simply so as to accommodate this provision.

The same is true of the political arena too. The proposed legislation to reserve a third of the seats in Parliament and state assemblies for women attracted strong opposition from some male MPs.

But some executives believe these two examples cannot be compared with the new proposal. Daftary says there should be no favouritism for women in Parliament because unlike the business field, in the political arena a woman can build her career. "When a woman serves her people well, the community votes for her," she says. She is against reservations for the scheduled castes, however, for this tends to bring down the quality of work. "These people have not being educated for generations," she says. "What they need is basic level education."

But favouritism to certain groups can be the only way to change things, others argue. "It is a chain process," says Anna Malhotra, former Union education secretary and the first woman member of the Indian Administrative Service. "Thanks to the reservation policy, some families belonging to the scheduled castes were able to educate their children better."

Malhotra supports the proposal for representation of women in the boardroom but she does not think the measure has to be mandatory to start with. She says the government should first ask companies to increase the participation of women in their management. This will prompt companies to look for qualified women. If firms do not respond to the request, then the rule can become mandatory for some time, "around 15 to 20 years."

The government, however, is confident that the proposal will be approved. A Ramaswamy, joint secretary, Department of Company Affairs, believes Parliament will vote on the issue by the end of this year. "By god's will, the proposal will go through," he says. Let us see how the men will react."

Gisele Regatao, a graduate student of business journalism at City University of New York, is spending six weeks at rediff.com, after winning a Reuters Foundation fellowship in journalism.

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