36% of senior positions in India's mid-market held by women: Grant Thornton report

Nearly 32% of senior management positions are now held by women globally in mid-market businesses, while in India, it stands at 36%, stated a report. Alarmingly, 9% of such businesses have no women in senior leadership roles globally.

Grant Thornton released its International Business Report titled, ‘Women in Business 2023 - The push for parity’, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, and it has thrown up some important numbers.

Interestingly, regional data analysed showed that all regions (Africa, APAC, ASEAN, Latin America, North America, and the EU) surpassed the 30% figure for women in senior management for the first time.

The ASEAN region experienced the most significant rise—from 37% to 40%. APAC’s increase from 30% to 32% in 2022 puts it ahead of North America for the first time since 2018.

North America was the only region to experience a dip, from 33% to 31%. With 36% of women in leadership roles, India is ahead of the current global (32%), BRIC (34%), and G7 (30%) averages.

The research also highlighted the importance of flexibility in the workplace. Businesses, which offer hybrid, flexible, or home working, outperform when it comes to women in senior management.

Globally, 36% of mid-market businesses are now working purely office-based, and 53% have a hybrid approach. In India, 62% of such businesses are adopting a hybrid model, 27% are still primarily office based, 5% of staff is permanently home-based, and 5% have a fully flexible schedule and choice to choose where to work from.

It also showed a slight increase in the percentage of women in senior leadership positions. However, the percentage of women occupying the CEO/managing director (MD) and chief information officer (CIO) positions has risen quite significantly. In 2019, just 15% of businesses had a female CEO/MD. Now, that number is 28% on a global level. 

According to the survey, India Inc believes a few actions can help businesses attract and retain a strong pipeline of future leaders. These are:

34.5%: Invest in the right technology to boost engagement and inclusion

31.7%: Focus on implementing strong well-being training and/or support programmes

31.3%: Implement cultural and behavioural change through training programmes

On the flip side, 5% of mid-market businesses in India still don’t have women in senior leadership roles. The need, therefore, is to launch more policy/change-driven programmes, create increased transparency on leadership pathways, and a business culture that supports diversity in senior leadership.  

"To push for better parity, businesses must adopt a hybrid or flexible approach, create a supportive and understanding culture, and focus on employee well-being and mentoring programmes that support women," Pallavi Bakhru, Partner, Grant Thornton Bharat, said.

She added, "Working towards improving diversity, especially at senior levels, is not only the responsible thing to do but also the right thing to do commercially. It is a proven driver of performance."

The findings in this report were drawn from around 5,000 interviews and surveys conducted between October and December 2022 with CEOs, MDs, chairs, and other senior decision-makers from all industry sectors in mid-market businesses in 28 countries. In India, it surveyed around 281 mid-market businesses.