India Inc may be recruiting more women from campuses for better gender diversity, but women are not making it past mid-to-senior levels. Though there are three women for every 10 employees in India Inc, only one makes it to the leadership team of 10, a study by staffing firm CIEL HR exclusively for ET has revealed. The study, which was conducted in January 2023, covered the workforce of 528 companies pan-India employing 1.2 million people across sectors.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021, only 8.9 per cent of firms in India have women as top managers. According to a 2021 Working Mother and Avtar Best Companies for Women in India study, women in corporate leadership in IT/ITeS, FMCG and manufacturing have increased over the previous year, whereas it has dipped in BFSI and pharma.