Dear Friends,

Why do we have so few women working in the organised sector? International Women’s Day gives us a chance to reflect on the hurdles women encounter in the workforce despite the progress that we, as a society have made in this sphere. At ISB, we have steadily increased the number of women students in the PGP programme. In the last five years, the percentage of women in the programme has increased from 25% to 29%. While this percentage is high when compared to other Indian B-schools, it falls short of global B-schools such as Wharton (45%) and Harvard (39%). What should we do to convince more women to opt for a career in business? What must we do to attract more high-quality women students and further balance the gender ratio in our classrooms? Currently, ISB, as a workplace reflects a healthier diversity – with almost 50% women in the staff. But that same healthy state is not reflected in our top management, or in our Faculty. We are on the right path, but we still have a long way to go.

But in order to truly empower women in business, we must widen the scope of our activity. In addition to providing education, we must also address issues that prevent skilled women from re-entering the workforce after a break. It is ironic that the country is facing a shortage of skilled professionals even though there are many talented and educated women who do not have jobs. How can we help remove the constraints that are preventing women from joining the workforce? ISB, under the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women programme, trains women entrepreneurs to grow their small businesses. A recent third party report shows that the women trained by ISB under this programme have outperformed other women entrepreneurs significantly. ISB has so far trained around 450 women entrepreneurs, but is that enough? Should we not try to train 10,000 women ourselves?

I hope we can work together to create greater success in these areas. I look forward to hearing your thoughts in this regard. Do write to me at ajit_rangnekar@isb.edu.

With Regards,
Ajit Rangnekar