In probably what can be termed as an anti-thesis to Women’s Day, a Study by Grant Thornton has found that about 41% of Indian businesses are without any women leaders. The survey of 5,500 businesses in 36 economies ranked India third lowest in having women in leadership roles for the third consecutive year after Japan  where only 7% of senior level executives are women, and Argentina which has 15%. 

Russia tops the list where they account for 47% of senior management team, says the survey.

According to a global survey by Grant Thornton Women in business: New perspectives on risk and reward, besides Russia the other two countries that have significant percentage of women in senior management roles include Indonesia (46 per cent) and Estonia (40 per cent).

"Embracing diversity is no longer a feminist notion but an essential on the corporate agenda as it helps drive efficiencies and effectiveness within teams, functions and organisations," Radhika Jain, Director, Grant Thornton Advisory Private Limited said.

The survey also noted that only 7% of the senior management (CEO/ Managing Director) roles were held by women in India. The most common roles held by women in India are Human Resources Director (25%) and Corporate Controller (18%).

At the global stage, Grant Thornton’s data showed that developing regions continue to lead the charge on diversity with developed economies lagging behind.

Eastern Europe performed best, with 38 per cent of senior roles held by women in 2017 and just 9 per cent of businesses with no women in senior management.

Meanwhile Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey saw the most improvement, with the proportion of senior roles held by women rising from 24 per cent in 2016 to 28 per cent in 2017 and the percentage of businesses with no women in senior management falling from 36 per cent in 2016 to 27 per cent in 2017.