India ranks third lowest in proportion of women business leaders: Grant Thornton

MUMBAI: With merely 17% of senior roles held by women, India continues to rank third lowest in the proportion of women business leaders for the third consecutive year, according to a global survey by Grant Thornton.

According to the survey of 5,500 businesses in 36 economies, 41% of the Indian businesses surveyed have no women in leadership roles. This is 7 points higher than last year.

Globally, Grant Thornton’s data shows developing regions continue to lead the charge on diversity with developed economies lagging behind. In

Eastern Europe

, 38% of senior roles are held by women in 2017 and just 9% of businesses are there with no women in senior management.

Meanwhile the

MINT economies

(Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) saw the most improvement, with the proportion of senior roles held by women rising from 24% in 2016 to 28% in 2017 and the percentage of businesses with no women in senior management falling from 36% in 2016 to 27% in 2017.

Radhika Jain, Director,

Grant Thornton Advisory

said: "Embracing diversity is no longer a feminist notion but an essential on the corporate agenda as it helps drive efficiencies and effectiveness within teams, functions and organizations. The lower 7% representation of women in senior management roles in India clearly indicates a need to fix the leaking pipeline and this requires a change in mindset of all stakeholders – business, community and government."

"We tend to talk of the changes required to be made in and by organizations. But at the same time, women themselves need to be more vocal about their ambitions and raise their hands up for the right roles and projects if they aspire to progress into senior management positions," she added.

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