European countries lead in appointing women as directors on a company’s board. Recently the European Union (EU) states have set the ball rolling. They’ve given initial approval to a directive requiring firms listed on EU stock exchanges to appoint women for at least 40 per cent of non-executive director roles and 33 per cent of all board jobs by 2027. Norway has taken lead with 45 per cent representation of women. In India, there’s only 4.7 per cent representation. So that means there’s plenty of room for scaling women’s representation in corporate boardrooms.
“Women’s participation in the boardroom doesn’t really need any law enforcement and should happen automatically,” says Asish K Bhattacharyya, founder and managing director of executive training business Nonlinear Insights. “Over the last two decades women have climbed the corporate ladder and have occupied senior executive positions. Hence competence is not the issue; instead, it’s about giving...