WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

 WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

The journey of a woman begins from the day she is born into this world as an infant. Her arrival in some places is celebrated with all pomp and show and in some places, she ends up abandoned. The journey of growing up as a girl has many opportunities as well as challenges linked at every stage of life.

The most important and fundamental part of a girl's life is her Upbringing. How she is welcomed, heard, understood, and motivated since childhood leaves a deep impact throughout her life. As rightly quoted by Abraham Lincoln, “Teach the child to gracefully lose and enjoy winning when they win”. The most sensitive stage of a person's life is their childhood, when they are properly nurtured in their initial stages, they can do wonders and become fearless.

The most important trait in a girl when she is growing up is being fearless and herself. Another important stage while growing up is that of a teenager, neither a child nor an adult. The stage when they want everything under their control,and build their own new world and new peers. It is a natural phenomenon, as they are on the verge of getting Puberty. The mixed phase of a teenager is that of puberty, where a tremendous number of changes take place on their physical and emotional front.

Women have been facing discrimination in many forms since ancient times. It includes forcing them to do sati, depriving basic rights to education, not having equal decision-making powers like men, and always being the only caregiver of the family. With the passing of time and the upgradation of society, the need to have a law protecting women and their basic rights was highly needed.

Every country has its constitution and offers basic fundamental rights to each citizen without discriminating against gender, race, religion, or place of birth. The constitution and the Indian Supreme court stand tall and strong as a guardian to every citizen. If a person- man, woman, child, transgender, etc. is denied any fundamental rights, they can at any time exercise their Right to constitutional remedies i.e., Article 32 of the Indian constitution. This right is the true essence of the constitution. It gives the freedom to the deprived citizen to directly approach the supreme court.

The situation of women even in the 21st century has remained derogatory, due to which the biggest international organization had to step in for a way forward. The United Nations global compact jotted down a few principles to maintain women's empowerment. It is one of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiatives which aligns companies to work with universal principles on human rights, and labor, and to achieve societal goals. In the year 2015, 195 countries agreed to change the world for the better along with the United Nations. On the eve of the completion of Millennial development goals in 2015, the Sustainable development goals came into being from 2015-2030. The SDG has 17 goals to achieve, covering almost every aspect of a better world. Ranging from zero hunger to gender equality, the SDGs has motivated every nation to frame policies accordingly.

The past two years have been a turning point for every firm and especially the employees. Many had to give up their jobs, shift to hometowns or work with less pay or zero pay. In all these covid circumstances, the most affected category which had to compromise their work were women. Many women were out of the competition, but those who survived the race gained an unexpected upside. According to a report published by IBM, in 2022 America witnessed a rise in the percentage of women in posts like the manager to 32%, vice president to 22%, and senior vice president to 15%. The c-suite positions representation has seen a drop to 9% and for the executive board to 7%.

Research by Pew reveals that men will continue to hold leadership posts in America whereas women can hold leadership posts only when they do not have kids to look after. The higher you climb the corporate ladder, the fewer women in senior roles are visible. According to the research done by Pew, women are found to be more honest, compassionate, and creative as leaders. In India, signs of correcting gender imbalance have been observed. Workplaces are nowadays becoming more gender neutral and gender sensitive.

Recent research in India has marked that the country is the third lowest global representation of women managers. There are only 8% women in managerial posts, only 9% women in business management roles, and only 2% in CEO roles. As per a report, more women's participation in top positions brings higher performance to the company and gender diversity. A positive impact has been noticed by the firms where women are in leadership posts. Women with their attitude show equal importance in balancing employees’ well-being, the company’s profit, and work-life balance.

THINGS THAT STAND APART WHEN WOMEN ARE IN LEADERSHIP POSITION - When women are motivated and appreciated for their work, they tend to contribute to the growth of the company resulting in revenue generation. The first step towards equality is hiring women without any biasness, based on their work experience, talent, and skills. After they are hired, equal pay for equal work should prevail, so that both genders work without any worry and burden. Every year, women that work tirelessly should be appraised and given a promotion without any discrimination. Here are a few points that make the workplace stand apart where a woman is in a leadership position

        Empathy Exists – being a woman and in charge of the firm, she keeps in mind the well-being of her fellow colleagues and the company’s reputation. Having a woman in a leadership post makes it easier when legislation is passed which are women centric. A private firm run by a woman can easily understand the need for menstrual leaves, menstrual hygiene in the workplace, maternity leave, and crèche facilities. It goes without saying when a woman is in charge, she’ll look after every need of other women.

• Setting an example – when a woman is in a leadership post, she becomes an example for other women aspirants. Falguni Nayar, CEO of Nikka has broken all records by becoming a part of the 20 richest Indians. She is inspiring other women like her to join work and show their talent. Deepa Arora, Head of Fareye says that women are better at multitasking and balancing work-life, they can be compassionate when needed and take command whenever and wherever required. America has also seen a revolution when Kamla Harris got elected as the first female vice president. An Indian-origin attorney changed the USA’s history with a landmark victory. The CEO of sugar cosmetics, Vineeta Singh has been in news because of the tremendous range of her cosmetics, bride packs, and marketing strategy. 15% of brand sales of sugar cosmetics are from the international market. This brand has many huge competitors, still, it stands tall and strong with its products.  
•   Breaking stereotypes – when a woman stands in a leadership position, the old strategies will be scrapped and she’ll recreate the company keeping in mind the need of the hour, employee’s position, and market’s demand. The laws and rules framed by a woman will be of a holistic approach and a 360-degree view. The wage gap will see a tremendous change if a woman is in leadership, she’ll understand the concept of equal pay for equal work. The woman in the workplace will maintain equality without any biasness.

A prime example of women in leadership is the ICCHORI website, which is run by women, for women, and of women. The ICHHORI website with its articles is spreading the word of equality and a gender-neutral society. It has been successful in disseminating information on women's health, laws, relationship, and dating lucidly.