The Reality Beneath the Glass Ceiling: Why Leadership Equality Still Matters

A recent report showing the rising number of women on corporate boards busts a myth or two. But a closer look reveals a narrowed pool one rung below. The picture across public institutions, including the five Assemblies elected recently, is dismal

It is high time that women get the full half of life’s choices and opportunities; not as charity and reservation; but as a natural flowering of a gender-equal society

Women on Corporate Boards: A Story of Progress

Finally, there is some positive news on women on corporate boards beyond the stale stories or ‘ought-to-be’ thinking. A recent report, titled ‘Women and Men in India 2025: Selected Indicators and Data’ published by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI), is an eye-opener on many dimensions of India’s gender divide. One heartening information is that women are finally catching up with men on company boards, though their progress on many other fronts continue to be slow. 

Out of over 31.6 lakh directorships on the books, 28.7 per cent are now held by women. Almost a million women on boards is a proclamation of arrival, since for decades the gurus perpetuated a false narrative that there were not enough qualified women to adorn boards, particularly for listed companies with higher-order compliance requirements.

The Glass Ceiling Still Exists Beyond the Boardroom

The MoSPI data covers all companies on the corporate affairs ministry register—listed and unlisted, big and small. The data also confirms that progress thins out at the senior management level below the board. While the share of women on boards stands over a quarter, it is still only about 17 percent in senior management, although a decent 29 percent share is maintained at other management levels. This appears to be a deliberate HR strategy of keeping women from breaking the glass ceiling and getting to the board.

Zoom in to the listed universe—the most visible and regulated, the one the gurus had loudest views about—and a sharper picture emerges. Prime Database’s March 2026 report on the 2,285 NSE main-board listed companies puts hard numbers to it. As of February 2026, 98 percent of listed firms had at least a woman director, up from 97 percent a year earlier; 47 percent now have two or more, up from 35 percent in 2021; but only 88 percent have at least one independent woman director. Women hold 21 percent of all board seats (3,738 directorships held by 2,898 women), against 18 percent in 2021 and a mere 5 percent in 2014 when the regulation kicked in—a more-than-four-fold rise in just over a decade. Women now account for 28 percent of independent directorships, up from 17 percent in 2018.

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Women in Leadership Roles Remain Underrepresented

Move one rung down from the board to actual executive authority and the picture changes. Women are only 14 percent of key managerial personnel, 10 percent of executive directors and just 5 percent of managing directors and CEOs—of the 130 women in those posts among 119 firms, 69 percent are from the promoter families. Only 6 percent of these companies have a woman board chair, and roughly half of those, too, are promoters. Among non-promoter executive directorships, women hold just 7 percent. Most of these new women directors are promoters of start-ups, with some catapulted to boards by promoter families. Still, that will give them the experience to be independent directors in other companies, including the big listed ones.

The MoSPI report tells a sobering story across institutions. In the higher judiciary, of the 1,122 sanctioned judicial positions, only 118 are held by women. The police are no better: women constitute only 10 percent of total officers nationally. The defence forces are starker—women account for just 8.31 percent of total personnel across the army, navy, air force, coast guard and the Defence Research and Development Organisation put together. As of 2025 women constitute just 13.65 percent of Parliament and hold a smaller 9.86 percent of ministerial portfolios. Even in the recently-elected legislative Assemblies of five states and a Union territory, out of 824 elected legislators, only 78 are women. Puducherry, a highly literate place, scored a dismal zero, though 40 women candidates were in the fray.

Why the Role of Women in Leadership Matters

The lone bright spot is at the grassroots: women now account for 49.75 percent of elected Panchayat representatives. So, except local self-government where statutory reservation is the norm, representation of women falls far short of 33 percent. 

Academics, chartered accountants, company secretaries, lawyers, engineers—practically every profession throws up capable women in large numbers. Yet most of them remain off the radars of director head-hunters and nomination and remuneration committees alike. The Prime Database numbers on listed firms confirm it: of every hundred non-promoter executive director seats, only seven go to women—the rest of the talent pool sits within the network of family connections and old-boy circuits. So much for talent search! And this, despite several studies showing that presence of a few women on board make a substantial difference to governance of the company.

Despite the unending condescending talk by all political parties and an attempted constitutional amendment, one-third reservation for women still remains a distant dream. Even when the goal is realised, it will seem like a charity to half the nation’s people. It is an anachronism that they need affirmative action, that too after having become heads of governments. 

Conclusion: From Representation to Real Leadership

It is high time that women get the full half of life’s choices and opportunities; not as charity and reservation; but as a natural flowering of a gender-equal society, in tune with the times. Rising sons must not be at the cost of fading daughters. The corporate world becoming the guiding North Star sends a powerful signal. Though we are far from the ‘Cinderella’ becoming the ‘Wonder Woman’, gender-equal NIFTY 500 and 100 companies shall not be far away.

Authors:

C K G Nair – Former member, director, National Institute of Securities Markets

Rachana Baid – Dean, National Institute of Securities Markets

Note:

This article was originally published at
https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinion/2026/May/21/reality-beneath-the-glass-ceiling