‘PR & Corp Comm industry is more open to women’

Despite the fact that more women are taking on higher roles in the office, women's representation in the workplace is still falling behind. There are also some troubling realities when it comes to the boardroom, as there is not enough representation at that level. 

The e4m PR& Corporate communications conference on women sheros was all about discussing the obstacles, the path of women leaders in the PR and corporate communications business, and how some women began their journey. 

To discuss- The Journey to perfection: real life stories on success and failure of the women leaders session was moderated by Abhishek Gulyani , CEO, H+K Strategies India. Nandini Chatterjee , Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, PwC India, Praveen Rikhy , Chief Consultant, PR Square, Seema Shah Ahuja , SVP & Global Head of Communications & Corporate Brand , Biocon Group & Biocon Biologics and Vidisha Chatterjee , Communication Specialist were among the panelists. 

Talking about ambition and her journey, Chatterjee said, “I think we owe a lot to women like us and to parents, who are actually imbibing ambition into their daughters. The fact that we are giving them the freedom to express,  we are making them independent. The other point is we are seeing this in urban areas but in tier II and tier III I'm not hearing the same story. They are still living under the same societal issues that we were living in. So I think it is important for women like us to get our girls to be strong.” 

On the changes she observed over the years, she shared the corp comm itself is reflective of the fact that it was hardly there earlier. “I've seen how it has evolved. There were a lot of women and now I'm seeing men coming into it. I'm seeing women are now moving cross pollinating. I think we owe it to them and that is happening as more and more of us are reaching the top.”

Adding to above, Ahuja shared that young people from small towns can shape their dreams when they come to bigger cities and it is upon senior leaders where they not only have to give them an opportunity, but we have to also nurture them. “We have to play the role of mentorship. At this stage all of us are really engaged and I'm particularly proud of giving opportunities to youngsters who join my team and it gives me an opportunity to keep hiring talent, shaping talent and then letting them go off to newer places to find what they want to do in life.”

Speaking on the representation of women on the board, Ahuja recalled that in 2013 there was new regulation where it was essential to have one woman member on the board.  “We saw for the first 10 years probably things were not moving that well but now today one in six companies have women on their board. So the statistics show that things are really moving forward. I am extremely proud that we have 1/3 board members as women. So things are changing and they're changing for the good.”

The communication specialist, Vidisha Chatterjee agreed with Ahuja and added that as leaders, they are the ones who have to set examples and lead the way as mentors. “Fortunately or unfortunately, not many of us when we were growing up, had mentors, so, whatever we have missed, I think it's part of our responsibility to give back.”

Chatterjee also touched upon the ecosystem and spoke about the picture that the country has today.  “ The president of the country is a woman. Unfortunately, the representation of parliamentarian women is only about 15% but a remarkable thing happened this year itself in September is that the women reservation bill has been passed, which mandates 33% participation of women parliamentarians in the state legislative assemblies as well as in the Lok Sabha. With the entire bridging of the digital divide, we are seeing a lot of women entrepreneurship at the ground level. The explosion is actually happening in the rural towns as well. But yes, in our immediate workplaces are we still governed by the basic century old thought process which happens in male entitled environments, perhaps Yes, not yet routed out and we do have a long distance to go forward but I'm optimistic.”

Adding to the conversation Nandini said that the industry needs a sponsor rather than a mentor. We sponsor somebody and make sure that we are able to bring the opportunities and then push them forward. And to add to Nandini's comment, Ahuja also agreed that the industry need sponsors and it should be a male sponsor. “We need male allies and male sponsors and that makes a difference,” added Ahuja. 

Talking about the changes that the Rikhy has seen, she shared that after finishing the studies when she stepped into the working environment, and most of the places where she applied, she  got a reply back saying sorry we don't take women. “At least that's not possible anymore. So having come from there I think particularly about the industry, it's been quite nice. Our industry has been much better than any other and traditionally we had women go higher, men came into the support roles, and it was skewed in that direction. Our industry has been particularly open to women and I think I'm proud of that.

Speaking further about diversity inclusion, Ahuja said that it has taken center stage now and it is being taken very seriously. “We are seeing the change happening, the workplaces have become very inclusive today. But what is important is to see whether we are only talking about gender diversity, or are we really talking about diversity in the true sense? So in that latter part, yes, there's a lot that needs to be done.”