A survey by Times Jobs has revealed that a minuscule 10% of women leaders see themselves as future CEOs in their respective organisations. The survey titled ‘Women in Corporate Boardrooms’ was undertaken by 500 women leaders and 1,000 women professionals across varied industry verticals.
This survey was conducted to gain an understanding about how corporates are gearing up to promote women employees for executive roles.
Career aspirations of working women: Realistic or unrealistic
Women professionals across industries were asked if they wanted to become the CEO of their company following which 71 per cent of respondents expressed their desire to become the CEO of their company, and only 29 per cent of respondents said that they were not keen to become the CEO of their existing company.
Also when asked about the possibilities of this happening, only 10% cited that they have a high probability of becoming the CEO. About 44% said that they have a very marginal chance of becoming a CEO.
‘’The survey results reveal that companies are still apprehensive about hiring women at executive leadership positions. Around 18% of women professionals said that their organisations are not willing to hire women at senior leadership positions. Of these, 60% cite that challenges like marriage, maternity leaves, childbirth, etc. are a primary reason to not hire them at senior levels,’’ said Times Jobs.
‘’Although, a majority (81%) of respondents revealed that their organisation encourages hiring women employees at executive levels,’’ added the release.
The survey also unveiled that around 44% of women leaders claimed that companies prefer hiring young women at executive positions. Around 29% of respondents said that young women are only hired for supportive roles, followed by 27% of respondents who believed that they are hired for operational roles.
“The findings of the TimesJobs survey reflect a positive trend for the hiring of women at senior leadership positions. Today, organisations look for competencies that make a leader and are therefore looking to eliminate gender biases while hiring and promotion. In the coming future, diversity will become a core focus area for organisations as it is a key driver of performance for any organisation,” said Ramathreya Krishnamurthi, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig.
As per 42 per cent of respondents, the healthcare sector has the highest number of women employees at the executive positions. While the IT sector and BPO sector have the second and the third highest number of women working at senior positions.
