The Institute of Company Secretaries of India [ICSI] and The Institute of Directors [IOD] organised a seminar on Driving a Sustainable Organisation through Board Diversity. Insightful and information packed, the speakers agreed upon the benefits of gender diversity in the boardroom. The vitality of the gender diverse boards and their impact on corporate performance caught attention of the delegates, even as the top women leaders from business, Government and civil society put emphasis on how boards can be more inclusive and future ready. Meenakshi lekhi, Member of Parliament was the guest of honour and inaugurated the seminar. lekhi, while addressing the august gathering reiterated the importance of Board Diversity and said,“I believe one’s gender shouldn’t decide the position but competence should. Board rooms should be gender neutral. Biases exists both in the boardrooms and politics. Women should be judged in terms of their intellect and strategy building skills. Firm decision making in board rooms must be complemented with listening capacity. Individuals at leadership roles arrive there by facing challenges, overcoming obstacles and competition irrespective of gender.”
Speaking at the seminar, CS Mamta Binani, president, ICSI said, “The corporate boards have been at the centre of many reforms, especially the game changing Companies Act 2013. The boards need to realise that there are gaps between governance ideals and governance realties, which need to be closed to ensure effective corporate functioning. One such gap, which has caught recent attention, is the board diversity gap. Any well functioning board requires a heterogeneous composition of skills, nationality, culture, gender and most importantly thoughts. This seminar on board diversity is an attempt to deliberate on the perspective and prospects of a diverse board and its effectiveness.”
Binani stressed on the role and vitality of gender diverse boards and their impact on corporate performance.
Addressing the seminar, lieutenant general J S Ahluwalia, PVSM (Retd), president, Institute of Directors, said that,women have great empathy, better communication and consensus building skills which they bring to the Board room. Such diversity in the boardroom will help enforce trust not only in the board but in the organisation as well. There has been enough validated research in the US, that shows that Board with more number of women have greater return on equity. Nearly 1000 women are required in the boardrooms across India. Indian boards still suffer from trust deficit against women. Such bias and roadblocks should be cleared and women should be treated as capable, skilled, talented and qualified individuals.”
Other eminent and distinguished speakers present at the occasion were Gopal Krishna Agarwal, council member, the ICSI and managing director, Voguestock, justice Arijit Pasayat, co-chairman, institute of directors and former judge, Supreme Court of India, MB Athreya, independent management advisor and former professor IIM, Kolkata and london Business School, Nesar Ahmad, past president, ICSI, CS NK Jain, corporate advisor and former secretary and CEO, ICSI Manasi Kirloskar, executive director, Kirloskar Systems.