Women in Leadership- Time to Break the Glass Ceiling

Women in Leadership- Time to Break the Glass Ceiling

It is truly said “There is no tool of development more effective than the empowerment of women”. Gone are the days when women’s role was only to do housework and take care of her children. If the woman is literate nobody can stop her from climbing the ladder of success. SheThePeople.TV has developed a campaign for Women in Leadership and believes that every woman has a leader inside her #EveryWomanIsALeader. 

Women in Leadership

Few of the challenges that women face in leadership are:

• Stereotyping.

• Assumptions that women are not ambitious.

• Male ego.

• Balancing between personal and professional lives.

Many daughters of Indian tycoons have already proved to the world that the company reaches its highest level under women leadership. Among these are Isha Ambani, Kavya Maran, Avni Biyani, Jayanti Chauhan, Laxmi Venu, Roshni Nadar and many more. They all are handling their family business with full dedication and achieved great heights in their businesses. They have not only supported their family businesses but have ventured into new businesses as well. These inspiring young business entrepreneurs have turned into role models for many young girls. Speaking about myself, I too have joined my family business and my dad is super elated that our business is growing each day due to the hard work and dedication of my brother and me. 

Women are playing major roles in almost all sectors including banking, hospitality, food and beverages, pharma and information technology. Chanda Kochhar has always been an inspiration for me. She is an extremely focused and determined woman in banking sector. She is an MD and CEO of ICICI Bank. I am truly impressed by her statement in one of her interviews “The leader in a way has to be like a sponge that has to absorb the stress because you know if you just allow stress to filter through and pass to your team then you're not doing a leader's job.” 

Do you know that 7 national banks in India have women as CEOs? Women are entering professions that were once dominated by men. In sectors such as advertising, banking, engineering, civil services and manufacturing there is a vast growth in the number of women. The most influential and inspiring women leaders in India in different sectors are Chanda Kochhar (CEO of ICICI Bank), Shikha Sharma (CEO, Axis Bank), Aruna Jayanthi (CEO, Capegemini), Preetha Reddy (MD, Apollo Hospital Enterprises), Mallika Srinivasan (CEO, TAFE), Shobhna Bhartia (Chairman, HT Media) and the list goes on. 

I totally agree with her!

Here are few of the leadership lessons that can help women retain their goals:

• Self confidence.

• Stay determined even when you are facing obstacles.

• Stay focused.

• Right mentors at different stages of career.

• Patience.

• Supportive family.

• Willingness to learn and adapt to changes.

We are living in 21st century and I feel things have changed substantially and there are no major challenges women have to face as a woman leader. Many Indian enterprises are encouraging women in their workforce and have become gender neutral. Women are becoming more aware of the fact that they have to do something in their lives. They are becoming more ambitious and willing to balance their personal and professional lives. Many organizations in India provide a good environment for women and develop their career planning policies. I am really not into favor of quotas or reservations for women. We women have that special leadership skills that help us climb the ladder of success, face obstacles and achieve our dreams.  

What are your thoughts on Women Leadership? Share with the rest in the comments section below!

Stay pretty!

Megha

Note: The blogging competition has been held by www.shethepeople.tv on the topic ‘Women in Leadership’ and that their entries can win an all-paid expense trip to an exciting destination. You can enter here.