[{"bbox": [96, 178, 1135, 631], "category": "Text", "text": "Most large companies have an average of 2 women on boards, fewer women occupy executive director positions (53 in 2020-21) and even lesser number of women promoter-directors (18 in 2020-21). Independent Directors are appointed in a non-executive capacity and do not have any material relationship (pecuniary or otherwise) with the company. They often do not participate in the functioning and management of the company. A rise in the number of women in independent director positions without an increase of women in executive director positions indicates unwillingness or failure of corporates to create a gender-sensitive culture of growth within. The UN Women study pointed out that, contrary to the perception around lack of qualified women for board positions, there are five times more women directors available than required as per existing mandate. However, there is a mismatch between the requirements and available expertise. It is noted that the process of appointment of women to corporate boards remains informal and limited within male-dominated networks, with women lacking visibility in the process of appointments, partly because of difficulty in networking. Moreover, several respondents noted the presence of casual sexism, prejudice, bias and/or apathy towards concerns of gender equality in corporate institutions. Furthermore, difficulty to maintain a life-spanning career, or breaks in early stages of career due to family responsibilities, was also noted as a factor which puts women at a disadvantage in terms of seniority/experience during the hiring process. Once on boards, 42% women directors referred to various instances of feeling discriminated or treated differently for their gender. Diversity at management/board level in corporates is seen as a critical enabling factor for women and girls to join the workforce."}, {"bbox": [96, 656, 687, 683], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Addressing discriminatory cultural practices, norms and beliefs:"}, {"bbox": [96, 683, 1135, 950], "category": "Text", "text": "Patriarchal values and adverse social norms that discriminate against women remain pervasive. Women are expected to be primary care givers, and when in jobs, in certain kinds of jobs such as nursing, teaching etc., which again have care connotations, in labour intensive sectors that are low paying such as textiles, as well as in services sector that were hard hit by the pandemic. In India, women carry out ten times more unpaid care work than men - a much higher ratio than the global average of three times. That limits their prospects for participation in social, economic, political and leisure activities. The outbreak of COVID has only exacerbated this situation, and its impact on women's participation in the formal economy is clear. The underlying gender norms that see men as the \"breadwinners\" and women as \"caregivers\" leaves women entrepreneurs with little to no time to build or adapt their businesses. There is an increased recognition by employers of the domestic care burden on female employees resulting into work from home, flexible working hours and child care facilities."}, {"bbox": [96, 973, 1135, 1188], "category": "Text", "text": "27% of respondents in a UN Women study believed that women are held to higher standards of exception and have a low margin of error. Another research by ILO states that women encounter many barriers to advancement into corporate leadership positions, and these barriers include gender-based discrimination as well as unconscious gender bias. While gender equality and women empowerment as a critical area of engagement to guide sustainable development is seeing traction in India across a wide range of stakeholders (government, corporate, civil society and development partners community), there is much scope for efforts to be synergised as there is no existing formal or informal platform for information sharing and collective action to be pursued. This would help tackling India's diversity and need to implement at scale."}, {"bbox": [96, 1215, 270, 1241], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Key stakeholders"}, {"bbox": [96, 1241, 1135, 1613], "category": "Text", "text": "The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the Ministry of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (MSME), the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the Ministry of Labour, and NITI Aayog will be key institutional interlocutors including at State level to advance the work on gender data and statistics as well as pursue efforts on promoting gender equality in the corporate sector, spending of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding on women's interest and support women's entrepreneurship. The Action will engage with industry bodies and associations such as the UN Women's Business Sector Advisory Council (BSAC) members, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), large companies including Indian and EU companies based in India, Women Empowerment Principles signatories, European Chambers of Commerce and women entrepreneurs (in particular micro and small entrepreneurs). European and domestic Financing Institutions as well as social impact investors, gender-lens investment funds will be key interlocutors for what concerns access to finance. Finally, CSOs and think-tanks will also be strategic partners for implementation on the ground (prevention against Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) in textile production clusters for example, and advocacy activities towards challenging gender roles and stereotypes."}, {"bbox": [1027, 1681, 1143, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 10 of 25"}]