India Seeks More Women on Corporate Boards

From VOA Learning English. This is the EconomicReport.

The goal appeared simple: require a woman to sit on the board of directors of all companies listed on India’s National Stock Exchange. But after one year, manycompanies are still trying to fill the positions. This has raised the issue of how well women are represented in top leadership jobs.

Indian lawmakers passed the legislation last year. Therule is meant to ensure gender diversity and bringattention to the issue of women in corporateleadership. The rule required that women be named toall corporate boards by April 1.

About 150 companies out of 1,475 listed on the stockmarket failed to name a woman to their boards by thatdate. And nearly half the companies that did meet therequirement appointed a female relative of a currentboard member.

Among those companies was Reliance Industries. It named the Chairman’swife, Nita Ambani, to the board.

Mukesh Ambani (R), chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, poses with his wife Nita (2nd R), mother Kokilaben (2nd L) and son Akash, before addressing the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Mumbai.

Pranava Haldea of the market research group, PRIME Database in New Delhiquestions the effectiveness of the requirement.

He says his organization thinks that the female relatives will share the sameideas and opinions as their family member on the board. He says that defeatsthe purpose of diversity.

Many companies argued there was a shortage of skilled female workers ableto fill the positions. Uday Chawla is head of a professional search company,Transearch India. It helped some companies look for candidates. He says thedifficulty was to find women who had already served on boards.

He said more professional companies want women on the board who can addvalue to the board instead of just meet a requirement. He says thesecompanies demand competency and experience. Mr. Chawla said there arevery few women who have the experience.

Others said companies simply did not take the legislation seriously and failedto look carefully. Yet, the inability of corporate India to find women to sit onboards has brought attention to the low level of women’s participation in topmanagement positions.

Catalyst is a non-profit organization that works to build inclusive workplaces. The group released a study that said almost 50 percent of women in corporateIndia leave such work between the lowest and middle professional level. In the rest of Asia, 29 percent of women do.

Shachi Irde is the director of Catalyst India, WRC. She says one of thereasons women leave is that women in India are mainly responsible for familycare. She says companies need to put in place policies to keep more womenon the job.

“If you really look and ensure that the women are recognized, treated fairly,then there is a lot more of women that you can see in your organization ratherthan them dropping off. The challenge definitely comes when organizationsdon’t have inclusive policies and she is pulled between both her homeresponsibilities and her office responsibilities.”

Ms. Irde says more women could be placed on boards if companies do notonly consider women with experience as board members.

Pranav Haldea says Indian companies need to recognize that more women in the workplace and in top management add value to a company.

He says he does not believe more laws are the answer. He said it is more of an effort to change beliefs in the corporate world.

Corporate boards in India have among the lowest percentages of womenmembers. Women are represented most on corporate boards in Norway,Finland and France which have government requirements for femalemembership.

And that's the Economic Report from VOA Learning English.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Anjana Pasricha reported this story from New Delhi. Mario Ritter wrote it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

gender diversity – n. the state of including both men and women

corporate ­– adj. involving or associated with a corporation (a business orcompany)

competency – n. ability or skill

participation – n. to be involved with others in doing something : to take partin an activity or event with others

management – n. the people who make decisions about a business,department, sports team, etc.

Do you believe women are well represented in businesses in your country?Let us know in the comments section below.

From VOA Learning English. This is the Economic Report.

美国之音慢速英语，这里是经济报道。

The goal appeared simple: require a woman to sit on the board of directors of all companies listed on India's National Stock Exchange. But after one year, many companies are still trying to fill the positions. This has raised the issue of how well women are represented in top leadership jobs.

目的似乎很简单：印度国家证券交易所所有公司董事会上必须有女性的一席之地。但是一年之后，许多公司仍试图让女性填补这些位置。这就引发女性加入董事会到底有多好这个议题更热的讨论。

Indian lawmakers passed the legislation last year. The rule is meant to ensure gender diversity and bring attention to the issue of women in corporate leadership. The rule required that women be named to all corporate boards by April 1.

印度国会议员于去年通过了这项法规。该规定旨在确保性别多样性，并引发人们对公司领导层女性这一问题的关注。该规定要求所有公司董事会到4月1日前都要任命女性董事。

About 150 companies out of 1,475 listed on the stock market failed to name a woman to their boards by that date. And nearly half the companies that did meet the requirement appointed a female relative of a current board member.

在印度股市1475家上市公司中，大约有150家公司未能在那天之前任命女性董事。而且达标公司中有近半数公司任命了一位女性亲属为现任董事会成员。

Among those companies was Reliance Industries. It named the Chairman's wife, Nita Ambani, to the board.

信实工业就是这些公司中的一家。该公司任命董事会主席之妻妮塔·安巴尼(Nita Ambani)进入董事会。

Pranava Haldea of the market research group, PRIME Database in New Delhi questions the effectiveness of the requirement.

市场研究组织新德里首席数据公司(Prime Database)的Pranava Haldea质疑这一要求的效果。

He says his organization thinks that the female relatives will share the same ideas and opinions as their family member on the board. He says that defeats the purpose of diversity.

他说他所在的机构认为，女性亲属跟她们在董事会的家人的想法和意见相同，这违背了多元化的目的。

Many companies argued there was a shortage of skilled female workers able to fill the positions. Uday Chawla is head of a professional search company, Transearch India. It helped some companies look for candidates. He says the difficulty was to find women who had already served on boards.

许多公司认为能够填补该位置的有经验的女员工存在不足。乌代·乔拉(Uday Chawla)是Transearch India这家猎头公司的负责人。该公司帮助一些公司寻找理想员工。他说，困难在于找到具备董事会工作经验的女性。

He said more professional companies want women on the board who can add value to the board instead of just meet a requirement. He says these companies demand competency and experience. Mr. Chawla said there are very few women who have the experience.

他说，更专业的公司希望进入董事会的女性能够对董事会有价值，而不是光满足规定的要求。他说，这些公司要求能力和经验。乔拉先生表示，具备经验的女性非常稀缺。

Others said companies simply did not take the legislation seriously and failed to look carefully. Yet, the inability of corporate India to find women to sit on boards has brought attention to the low level of women's participation in top management positions.

还有人说各个公司根本没把这条法规当回事，没有仔细去找。然而，印度企业界无法找到女性进入董事会引发了人们对低水平女性进入高层管理职位的关注。

Catalyst is a non-profit organization that works to build inclusive workplaces. The group released a study that said almost 50 percent of women in corporate India leave such work between the lowest and middle professional level. In the rest of Asia, 29 percent of women do.

Catalyst是一家非盈利性组织，该组织致力于建设包容性职场。该组织发布的一份研究报告称，印度企业界近50%的女性维持在中、低专业水平之间的这类工作。在亚洲其它地方，只有29%的女性这样。

Shachi Irde is the director of Catalyst India, WRC. She says one of the reasons women leave is that women in India are mainly responsible for family care. She says companies need to put in place policies to keep more women on the job.

Shachi Irde是Catalyst India WRC的负责人。她说，女性维持这种状态的原因之一是印度女性主要负责照顾家庭。她说，各个公司需要制定政策让更多女性就业。

"If you really look and ensure that the women are recognized, treated fairly, then there is a lot more of women that you can see in your organization rather than them dropping off. The challenge definitely comes when organizations don't have inclusive policies and she is pulled between both her home responsibilities and her office responsibilities."

“如果你真的关注并确保女性被承认和公平对待，你就能发现你公司里有很多女性而不是在减少。当各公司不具备包容性政策，并且女性在家庭责任和工作职责之间为难时，挑战肯定就随之而来。”

Ms. Irde says more women could be placed on boards if companies do not only consider women with experience as board members.

Irde女士表示，如果各个公司不只是考虑具备董事会经验的女性，就会有更多女性能够胜任董事会工作。

Pranav Haldea says Indian companies need to recognize that more women in the workplace and in top management add value to a company.

Pranav Haldea表示，印度公司需要认识到，职场和高层管理中女性越来越多对公司是有利的。

He says he does not believe more laws are the answer. He said it is more of an effort to change beliefs in the corporate world.

他表示，出台更多相关法律是没有用的。需要的是为改变公司的一些旧观念而做出努力。

Corporate boards in India have among the lowest percentages of women members. Women are represented most on corporate boards in Norway, Finland and France which have government requirements for female membership.

印度公司董事会的女性成员比例全球最低。挪威、芬兰、法国公司董事会女性比例最高，这是根据政府规定来执行的。

And that's the Economic Report from VOA Learning English.

以上就是这次美国之音慢速英语，经济报道。