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EXISTENCE OF GLASS CEILING IN INDIA

Article · January 2014

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India is the country in which unity in the diversity exits 29 states with
different religion, different custom and different languages but the status of
women in every state just like similar in each term. Present status of women in
India is a very complicated where some women’s are in the list of top CEOs
and politics. But, on the other hand no proper facilities available to continuing
their education. India is a country where men and women are equal in rights
but in some cases women achieve less than a man under the same parameter. A
"glass ceiling" means an invisible barrier which is beyond the thoughts of the
women; these hidden parameters become the hurdles between the middle and
top management for the women. Silent, yet unbreakable, the main reason of the
variation in the percentage of women in the top management is always less than
the men. Glass ceiling is the corporate given word which basically means
invisible barriers for women which let them stop to achieve heights of success.
In corporate world, the percentage of women and men 60% and 40% or may be
70% and 30% but when it grow to the higher level like CEO and board of
directors it become approximately 85% male and 15% female or may be less
than this. The objective of this paper to highlighting the glass ceiling in India
and determine the position of women in banking, politics, education, and
corporate.
Keywords: glass ceiling, management, Politics and banking sector
Introduction : ―Glass ceiling‖ refers to an invisible barrier that prevents
someone from achieving further objectives regarding their career at the
work place. It is generally use in the work place for the women,
basically it refers to invisible hurdles. These hurdles or barriers basically
related to women who cannot reach the highest level of the management
at the work place. Glass ceiling is the method of defining the things
which keep away women from the grapping of power and success which
makes them equal to the men. Today, in corporate life there are so many
invisible barriers which make turbulence in the life of the women. Glass
ceiling or invisible barriers affect more those women who are career
oriented than other women. There are many issues in corporate life like
security, female factor, etc. which useless and personal at the work place
but top management focuses on these factors at the time of promotion
and appraisal. It point for women between their responsibility towards
family and career. Firstly, Top management concentrate on above issues
regarding women after check out the performance of the women at the
work place at the time of the appraisal or promotion, which is immoral.
142 ANUŚĪLANA
Since 1970, definition of the women has been continuously changing in
every field like politics, corporate, public sector etc. still, Male always
dominates the female. There are distinguishes between male and female
for example just like that pink is the colour of female and blue for male
….why? No actual reason but it has been from the last centuries and
everyone follows.
Evidence of the glass ceiling has been described as invisible,
covert and overt. Root of the glass ceiling is gender-based barriers,
commonly cited in the literature and noted anecdotally. These barriers
run the gamut from gender stereotypes to preferred leadership styles and
more on to tokenism in the high managerial ranks. Forces like socio-
cultural, legal, personal, and organizational that affects the women’s rise
to towards the upper position.
Glass ceiling is present all over the world, its vary country to
country where degree of intensity of barriers are different. Religious
factor, legal factor and economic factor are emerging factors those
discriminate always women from men in developing as well as
developed countries. Since equal opportunities for women and men but
still women do not accomplishment the advancement because of the
glass ceiling. For the women who have these opportunities and who are
able to have a career, in emerging countries such as China or India, the
glass ceiling they confront is no different from that confronted by
women in the western world, Hema Krishnan, Professor, Xavier
University.
This is the stereotype that women are more emotional than men
but it has been studied that men are more emotionally than women but
emotional intelligence might be different in both. Emotional intelligence
depends on the management and leadership style etc. for women as well
as men and the main parameter their perception towards their career
goals. Women follow holistic approach, voluntarily share power and
information to others. During present century, these traits can be
beneficial in information age. The present organisation cultures and
organisation structures promotes the scatter of knowledge, believed in
diversity in thoughts and treat their employees’ as a human resources not
assets. According to the BBC report, it has been confirmed by the
research that women held less than 10% position of Board level and
Director Level.
Barriers for Women at the Work Place:
 Male and female salary is different at the same job profile.
 Due to the more responsibility like child birth and child rearing gives
the result of less experience at the workforce
 It is very tough for the women to come back on the employment after
the pregnancy which creates a loop in their career.
Existence of Glass Ceiling in India 143
 Women are for compromise even at the work place, women comprise
the bulk of the part-time workforce thereby gaining lower hourly rates
and less accumulated superannuation.
 Management perception towards less value of work, done by women.
It is a tradition that women’s roles in community services are
underpaid.
Picture of Indian Women in History : In Indian history, lots of
pictures of women show the different types of women like mother India,
Rani Laxmibai a fighter etc., sometime women proved herself as a
fighter as leader and game planer etc., besides these traditional women
of India such as Sati, Jauhar, and Devadasi also a part of the
communities which have been banned and deceased in modern time
period of India. Beyond this, there are some other practices which are
still practiced by the Indian women and have been the image of India
such as: purdah system and child marriage in some rural part of India,
although illegal under current Indian law.
Sati : Sati custom was very popular and awful in the society of India
which clearly defines those women who depend upon the men, and have
no meaning of women life alone in the communities. According to sati
custom widow has to immolate alive on the pyre of her husband’s
funeral. Although the act was supposed to be voluntary on the widow's
part, its practice is forbidden by the Hindu scriptures in Kali Yuga, the
current age. After the foreign invasions of Indian subcontinent, this
practice started to mark its presence, as women were often raped or
kidnapped by the foreign forces. It was abolished by the British in 1829.
There have been around forty reported cases of sati since independence.
In 1987, the Roop Kanwar case in Rajasthan led to The Commission of
Sati (Prevention) Act.
Jauhar : In the Mughal period sati practices converted in to Jauhar
practices. Jauhar basically prevent from molestation by the enemy
through the voluntary immolation of women such as wives and
daughters of the defeated warrior. This custom firstly came from the
Rajputana’s family, who are well known for an honour in the society.
The term is extended to describe the occasional practice of mass suicide
carried out in medieval times by Rajput women. Manifestly, such
practice took place during the Islamic invasions of India. There were
many instances of jauhar, but these were not well recorded. Maharani
Samyukta, wife of Prithviraj Chauhan the last Hindu king to rule Delhi,
committed jauhar after the invasion of Muhhamad Gori. The best known
cases of Jauhar the three occurrences at the fort of Chittaur
(Chittaurgarh, Chittorgarh), in Rajasthan, was jauhar of Queen Padmini
wife of Rana Rawal Ratan Singh in 1303 AD, jauhar of Rani Karmawati
144 ANUŚĪLANA
wife of Rana Sanga in 8 March, 1535 AD and jauhar of Rana Udai
Singh II, his sons and the royal women in 1568 AD.
Purdah : In the ancient time, purdah system used to protect the women
by covering themselves so they conceal their skin from the males.
Basically it started through the male’s for restrict the women to feel
freely about their rights. Generally, it was the indication of the
subordination of women. It noted that Indian women had to purdah in
the Islamic Kingdoms in Indian Subcontinent, as result of fear, that they
would be kidnapped by the Muslim invaders.
Devadasis : It was started from the southern India where women should
married to a deity or temple. Devdasi means connected with the god
through devote life towards them. The ritual was well-established by the
10th century A.D. By 1988, the practice was outlawed in the country.
Objective of the Paper:
1. Determine the position of women in banking sector, politics, education
sector, and corporate world.
2. Present status of working women and calculate the percentage of
CEO’s women in India.
3. Calculate the percentage of women on the Board of Directors.
Origination of Glass Ceiling : The term was first coined in March 1984
by Gay Bryant, the former editor of Working Woman magazine who was
changing jobs to be the editor of Family Circle. In an Adweek article by
Nora Frenkel, Bryant was reported as saying, "Women have reached a
certain point—I call it the glass ceiling. They're in the top of middle
management and they're stopping and getting stuck. There isn't enough
room for all those women at the top. Some are going into business for
themselves. Others are going out and raising families. Also in 1984,
Bryant used the term in a chapter of the book The Working Woman
Report: Succeeding in Business in the 1980s.
It is not specifically clarified who used this word ―Glass ceiling‖
first time. In 1986A Wall Street Journal story popularized this term by
looked out the barriers confronting women at the top level of
management. In 1984 Glass ceiling was used even earlier by Gay Bryant
in the book The Working Woman Report, which related to the status of
the women at the work place.
In 1991, the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission was established
to gather information regarding the opportunities for the women and find
out the barriers which create a problem for women at the top level of top
management. Workers climb higher as they get promotions, pay raises,
and other opportunities. In theory, nothing prevents women from rising
as high as men. After the Women’s Liberation Movement and Civil
Rights legislation of the 1960s, many people feel that discrimination is
all in the past. However, in practice, there are still barriers.
Existence of Glass Ceiling in India 145
Women get promotion at the particular stage of the professional
life that they get stuck in the invisible hurdles which is not familiar with
the women.
Methodology : I used secondary data to collect the information
regarding the glass ceiling from some websites like list of Fortune 1000
companies or the Global 500, etc. And also consider some journals
which have discussed about the problem of the glass ceiling and how to
overcome on it
Results and Discussion :
Breaking the Glass Ceiling : In a reversal of the age-old gender pay
gap, women are making more money than men in part-time jobs.
According to Forbes magazine (2013) Female part-timers earned $10
more in median weekly salaries than their male counterparts, according
to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Contrast this to full-time work, where
men 15% more than women in overall median weekly earnings.
Indian Women in Banking : Chanda Kochhar is the well- known name
in the banking sector, a lady who became an idol for many women. She
is the CEO of the country's second largest commercial lending
institution, ICICI Bank, again, Shikha Sharma, MD of the third largest
Axis bank in the private sector. The story not ends here of the women in
the private banks, One of the largest foreign banks in the country,
HSBC, who headed by women with Naina Lal Kidwai and the Indian
arm of the global financial powerhouse JPMorgan Chase based on
Indian armare also headed by Kalpana Morparia. Even the Reserve Bank
of India, until recently, had two women Usha Thorat and Shyamala
Gopinath among four of its deputy governors.
According to Alok Khare, president of the All India Bank
Officers Association, declared 15-17 percent is women among one
million bank employees in the country. The percentage of women’s
employees’ varies according to cities; it is 27-30 percent in metro cities.
The actual reason for in the banking sector because of working hours of
banks were suited to serve the woman's domestic schedules, there was
physical proximity to the place of work, the job offered an element of
respectability and the profession did not require physical labour.
Indian Women in Politics: Before some years back, Politics is all about
male oriented and Women pictures’ is full of challenge and getting the
place after the male in India. But, the famous and respected lady ―Indira
Gandhi‖ changed the concept of the politics with her work done
commendable. Women pictures’ is full of challenge and getting the
place after the male in India.
Lots of problem arises for women to entering in the politics like
caste, creed, religion and decisive role. Look out the history of the
Indian politics; it is clear that family background does matter in the
146 ANUŚĪLANA
politics. It’s true that most of the successful women politicians in this
country owe their success to their family’s political background;
nevertheless, nobody can deny them the credit for putting in hard work
and displaying requisite acumen for not only surviving but carving a
separate niche for themselves.
There are many female faces like Sonia Gandhi, one of the
longest serving president of Congress party in its history of 127 years
and also the chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance
(UPA). The second name is Sushma Swaraj, the famous leader of
opposition in Lok Sabha. She belongs to BJP and is a veteran of
electoral politics. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for six
terms and MLA for three terms. She was also the Chief Minister of
Delhi for a brief period. Sheila Dikshit is Chief Minister of Delhi since
1998 to 2013. She is close confidant of congress party Chief Sonia
Gandhi and has led the party to victory for three consecutive terms.
Mamata Banerjee is the first woman Chief Minister of West
Bengal and has the distinction of dethroning 34 years old rule of left
front government in West Bengal.
She was also the first woman Railway Minister of
India. Jayalalitha Jayaram is the Chief Minister of Tamil
Nadu. Mayawati is today the most powerful dalit leader in the country.
She had been four times Chief Minister of India’s most populous state
UP. Vasundhara Raje Scindia was the first woman Chief Minister of
Rajasthan. She is one of the most powerful female politicians of the
country. Ambika Soni is union cabinet minister in charge of information
and broadcasting ministry. Supriya Sule is a Lok Sabha MP and belongs
to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Recently Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav's wife, Dimple Yadav (Samajwadi Party), has
created history of sorts in the state by getting elected to the Lok Sabha
unopposed. So, in politics women are continuously breaking the glass
ceiling from 1966 to till now.
Indian Women in Army: Priya Jhingan, a first lady who broke the
male bastion of the Indian Army. Padma Bandopadhyay, an IAF officer
who rose to be India’s first woman Air vice Marshal in 2002,
Bandopadhyay also served as the first woman Fellow of the Aerospace
Medical Society of India.
There are many areas where women are breaking the glass
ceiling but according to the population of women it’s not up to mark. In
the politics most of the female politician is related to family background
or some other references so politics is all about the network. There are
very less no. of females in army compare to other profession. In a
corporate world, there are some famous women who achieved the
heights of success on themselves.
Existence of Glass Ceiling in India 147
Conclusion : India is a country where maximum position by men but
still there are some precise and reputed place which headed by the
women like 10percent women of India in top 50 CEOs according to the
report of Forbes magazine’s 2013. There are 13 women from India
comes in the world’s 100 most powerful women which is apprehensive.
Compare to the world, there is only 4.7percent board of directors seats
held by the women in India but according to the report of 3rd march
2014 given by the Forbes, there is only 2 percent. 3 percent increment in
women from 2011 to 2014 at the level of senior management. It proves a
significant improvement, occurring in parallel with the recovery of the
global economy. Women are also increasing their presence in the C-
suite. The top five positions where women enter in senior management –
chief finance officer (31%), human resources director (30%), corporate
controller (14%), chief marketing officer (13%) and sales director (13%)
Renu Sud Karnad is the well- known name among women directors
today, holds the maximum number of position in the board of directors.
She is the member of nine boards in which six are as an independent
director. Another famous name is Ireena Vittal who holds seven boards
as an independent director. There is only 32 companies have a woman
chairperson/co-chairperson, among one is an independent director.
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise achieved four dependent directors which are
known as highest number of women directors.
Two professions banking and finance are the top most favouring
sector of women. Women are getting earlier career breaks as well.
Women who dropped out are being called back by their old companies.
The economy is growing and the demand for good executives is on-
going,‖ explains Kaka Nakhate, the president and country head of Bank
of America Merrill Lynch India.
According to the Forbes magazine: 9,009 persons occupying a
total of 11,596 directorships in NSE-listed companies out of these, only
597 positions are held by women, which is a mere5.1%.
―Men that enter female-dominated professions tend to be
promoted at faster rates than women in those professions,‖ explains
Caren Goldberg, Ph.D., an assistant professor of management
at American University’s Kogod School of Business who has researched
the phenomenon. ―When you look at senior management, you tend to
see men disproportionately represented. So while there may be less than
5% of all nurses who are male, you see a much larger percentage than
5% in senior-level positions like hospital administrators.‖
Research shows that men in female-dominated jobs tend to fare
better even than men in male-dominated jobs, and they typically earn
higher salaries, receive more promotions, and achieve higher levels
within organizations than their female counterparts.
 148 ANUŚĪLANA
At last, in India women are breaking the glass ceiling but there are many
sectors in which glass ceiling is present like army. Government should
do work on the glass ceiling like the Companies Act, SEBI has
mandated that the board of every listed company should have at least
one woman director. This policy worked a lot in the field of glass ceiling
where women could not get the position which they deserve.
References:
1. Deepika Nath, (2000) "Gently shattering the glass ceiling: experiences of
Indian women managers", Women in Management Review, Vol. 15 Iss: 1,
pp.44 – 52.
2. Jenny M. Hoobler, Grace Lemmon and Sandy J. Wayne (2014),Women's
Managerial Aspirations: An Organizational Development Perspective,
Journal of Management,40:3 703-730
3. The Glass Ceiling: Domestic and International Perspectives Nancy
Lockwood, SPHR, GPHR HR Content expert, 2004 research quarterly.
4. Hymowitz .C. & schellhardt. T.D., (1996, march 24), the glasss ceiling:
The wall street journal Special report on corpaorate women.
5. Glass Ceiling: What Keeps Women from Advancing to Higher Ranks?
Available on http://womenshistory.about.com/.
6. http://www.sify.com/finance/in-india-women-bankers-have-broken-glass-
ceiling.
7. The glass ceiling and gender diversity; available on http://glassceiling.info/
about-glass-ceiling-info/
8. India Inc. Needs 966 Women Directors: available on http://
forbesindia.com/ article/
9. Can-angels-help-women-shatter-glass-ceilings by Geri Stengel, Contributor
http://www.forbes.com/sites/geristengel/2012/04/11/.
10. S.K Yadav, Marginalization Of Women In Mughal Period,
PARIPREKSYA (ISSN 2278-0602) Vol-VII 2013, pp 53-57.
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