Women hold 17% C-suite roles, 1 in 3 junior positions: Survey

NEW DELHI: India’s C-suite gender gap is stark, highlighting a significant disparity in leadership roles, with women holding just 17% of C-suite roles and 20% of board positions at India Inc.What’s more concerning is the low recruitment of women into entry-level private sector jobs, said McKinsey’s ‘Women in the Workplace’ report focused on India.Though women represent nearly half of the enrolled university students, they hold just one in three entry-level roles and 24% of manager-level positions, the survey of 77 domestic companies said.Vivek Pandit, senior partner, McKinsey & Company, told TOI, “India’s starting point on women’s workforce participation is stronger than many assume, 33% at entry level compared to 48% in North America. And while North America made real strides at the top, nearly doubling C-suite representation over the past decade, India has the potential to follow that path. But progress isn’t automatic.”The imbalance in India is further highlighted by a seven-year age gap at the entry level, where women average 39 years compared to men at 32, the widest gap across three countries, India, Kenya, and Nigeria. This suggests that many women start formal employment later or stagnate.Entry-level men are over twice as likely to be promoted to managerial roles than women, while entry-level women are 1.3 times more likely to leave than men, survey finds. However, beyond the manager level, the pipeline is less leaky, with women senior VPs less likely to leave than men.