Only 4.7 per cent of India’s corporate directors are women, a paper put out by professional services firm EY has said.
This compares with 40.5 per cent for Norway, which has the highest share of women on boards, 20.7 per cent in the United Kingdom, 16.9 per cent in the United States, 7.7 per cent in Brazil and 1.2 per cent in the UAE, says the paper titled 'Women on boards: Global approaches to advancing diversity'.
The release of this paper assumes significance as India Inc (listed companies) is grappling with recent regulatory changes to have at least one woman director on their boards by October 1 this year.
Focused government attention, corporate transparency and committed private sector leadership are necessary for making progress on the important issue of advancing board diversity, the EY paper has said.
“The introduction of quotas will help to achieve greater diversity on corporate boards. But it is equally imperative to make significant investments towards enabling women to take on board positions for them to make an impact in these roles”, said Sonu Iyer, Partner and Diversity Leader for EY India.