'Marriage, maternity, and mobility are the key challenges women face'

At the 5th edition of e4m PR & Corp Comm Women Achievers Summit 2024, an amazing set of panellists came together and shared their valuable perspective and experiences on “Women in workplace, hailing power and decision-making”. The panellists include Nisha Pokhriyal, AVP Brand & Creative, Grip Invest, Priya Patankar, Head of Communications, Phone PE, Ajey Maharaj, Head- Corporate Communication & PR, Fortis, Sandhya Malik, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Vedanta Sesa Goa, moderated by Ritika Upmanyu, exchange4media. 

Priya started the discussion by sharing the trigger points that hamper women’s progress to hail power or reach leadership positions. She mentioned that marriage, maternity, and mobility are the key challenges women face.  

However, continuing her remarks, Patankar explained the transformation she has witnessed and how organisations can balance gender equality and decision-making culture in organisation, “Over the last few years, I’ve realized that, as tough as it seems, maternity is relatively easier to navigate. There are still challenges, but processes can be put in place to support working mothers. For example, my organization now has a fully functional day care. When I was on maternity leave, it used to be just 12 weeks, but now it has been extended to six months. Many organizations even offer options to extend it further. Active mentorship programs are also in place, ensuring that women receive guidance and support. In short, there’s a structured approach to managing maternity. However, mobility and marriage remain much harder to address. Fortunately, thanks to COVID, we’ve seen some positive changes—many roles have shifted to remote or hybrid models, making location less critical for employment. This is a very welcome change that gives more flexibility for individuals to balance personal and professional commitments.”

Sandhya discussed the increasing participation of women in political and leadership roles, “When we talk about India, it is crucial to understand the role of women in nation-building. This brings us to an important development that the Indian Parliament has passed a bill mandating 30% representation for women. Additionally, the Companies Act of 2013 requires listed companies to have at least one woman on their board. These policies set the national context for gender inclusion. At Vedanta, we align with this vision by implementing various policies that encourage women to take on leadership roles.”

Patankar shared her views from a corporate perspective, “There is no doubt about the capabilities that women possess. However, the key challenge lies in creating an environment that truly supports and enables them to make a meaningful impact. To achieve this, organizations and communities must take active steps to foster this change. Leadership training programs play a crucial role in this transformation. At Grip Invest, we also offer leadership training programs designed to enhance skill sets and prepare women for the future. What we've observed is that when women step into leadership roles, they kind of inspire and drive, it's a new thing that just comes into picture right so it's a movement for advancement.” 

Moving on, Ajey highlighted the transformation he observed for women in leadership positions, “I think things are transforming and changing and women are taking more and more shape into the corporate world. This is important from the 4's Healthcare perspective as I work in the healthcare chain so the ratio for gender stands at approximately 65% men to 35% women, though I believe it is closer to 60-40. This is because most nursing and paramedical roles in our network are held by women. Our organization is one of the most women-centric and empowering workplaces. In terms of board representation, we currently have two women and five men. However, we are actively working on improving gender balance at the leadership level.” 

To this, Malik answered, “Men are not the problem, men are the solutions. Men and women are like two wheels of a vehicle—they cannot operate without each other. It is essential to work together rather than compete for dominance. Men must shift their mindset and become more inclusive toward women in leadership, fostering an environment that supports equality and collaboration.” 

Dismantling the bias that women who are too assertive are often perceived too aggressive while those who are not seen as they lack the leadership skills, Priya guides, “The higher you grow especially up the corporate ladder your life is about difficult conversations you are having a lot of extremely unpleasant conversations. 

Talking about the future professionals, Nisha illustrated, “Next generation of professionals is GenZ and I'm super happy with how they're handling things so I actually would want to just see them at these positions.” 

Sandhya advised the future professionals to build their own leadership style, be equal stakeholder, and respect each other. 

Maharaj concluded and advised the young women professionals, “I think more and more women are coming forward more and more women are participative and they will be in the leadership role for sure and it's going to be a bright future for India as a country because you'll have when you talk about gender bias women and not being in the corporate world less women participation that's not going to be there so because it's going to be equal for everyone and equal participation which is going to make it better for all.”