The 2016 Fortune 500 list shows women holding a meagre four per cent of the CEO positions in 500 of the world's largest companies. In India this ratio is even lower. There are only eight women leaders at the helm of affairs among the BSE firms.

This representation in corporate boardrooms has increased over the past five years, but it still remains below the global average of 14.7 per cent. The gender disparity is too conspicuous to overlook. Has this got something to do with inefficiency? The answer is a blatant "no”, owing to the myriad examples of women swinging it high and mighty.

The gender imbalance is not so lucid on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder. However, more women choose to (read driven to) opt out as progress upwards. In most cases, family responsibilities force them out of the corporate ranks, and also the absence of proper cultural settings at the workplaces which goads them towards resignation.

However, while talking about the need for greater women representation in leadership roles, we often tend to portray it as only a gender parity issue, when it is a larger issue of workforce diversity bringing wider benefits for organisations themselves. Business dexterity is not exclusive to men.

The social jargon of women not corresponding to the dandy Jims should be stopped immediately with mitigation measures. On a macroeconomic scale, the research organisation, Catalyst reported recently that countries can radically increase their GDP by augmenting the role of women in the economy.

A survey published in the Harvard Business Review in 2011 found that managers had marked women higher on the integrity scale, in building relationships as well as in taking initiatives. The same survey also concluded that women leaders were better communicators, struck amazing deals and built discreet collaborations.

A series of other studies have pointed to multifarious other virtues, including improved financial performance and a bringing about sophisticated work dynamics. Despite the statistics, women hardly win true encomiums.

We empathise, but do not deliver. The corporate zone has merely scraped the surface when it comes to women representation, hence the yet to be attained economic zenith.

Organisational shifts towards diversity cannot be a knee jerk approach. Once the employer decides to bring about greater gender parity in leadership (which one must), every policy should be modelled to meet ends. Organisations must evaluate the situation in their top management, followed by an analysis of how many potential women employees are currently in the middle rung to take up the available top slots over the next half a decade. Organisations must make a conscious effort to nurture the talented women employees who show traits of leadership right from an early stage. Equip them with corporate mantras and assiduously hone them to hawk-eyed precision simply by exclusive attention and providing niches.

Although in recent years the number of women acquiring advanced degrees and entering the workforce has increased, a majority of them often remain stuck in junior to middle management levels. There are multiple reasons for this, primarily bias and selfpenance. The consequence is that despite being bright and talented, very few are able to establish themselves.

Unfortunately, organisations are culturally designed with top-notch patriarchy. However, it is essential to institute greater flexibility and a more empathetic approach to make the workplace more amenable to women.

A recent survey by Monster.com in India found that the median wage earned by women was 27 lower as against their male counterparts. This instance of discrimination is a real plight, a massacre of ethics and equality. Gender equality, along with a vision to have greater diversity in an organisational workforce, can bring unprecedented benediction having an array of approaches to any hitch that might occur.

The writer is vice-president, hr, sun life financial