NEW DELHI, July 22:Yahoo’s decision to hire 37-year-old and soon-to-be mother Marissa Mayer as its new CEO is being hailed as one of the most inspiring top-job stories worldwide, but experts do not expect an encore in India anytime soon.
While many women business leaders are breaking the glass ceiling to reach the corner-room CEO office in the country and the hiring policies here are not as such regressive, the companies would rather wait for a few months, than choosing a pregnant lady for the top job, experts say.
For that matter, a case similar to Marissa Mayer has hardly been seen even in the western world so far, point out the experts at various executive search firms.
While pregnancy as such is no disqualification, Mayer’s appointment has been a rare situation as not many women become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company at the age of 37 and that too while making a career move during pregnancy.
There have been cases when women CEOs have managed the business while rearing a child, such as in case of Yahoo’s own former CEO Carol Bartz, but it is uncommon for a pregnant or mother of a newborn kid to do so.
Executive talent management firm EMA Partners International’s Managing Partner (Asia Emerging Markets) K Sudarshan said: “It is not right to rule it out but it is very difficult to see some thing like this in India… They may postpone the decision. They may still hire but they might postpone the appointment.”
However, Mayer’s appointment, that too at a company of the size and stature of Yahoo!, may lead to many other companies opening up to such an idea.
Global HR solutions provider Randstad’s India Director Hastha Krishnan said that such instances are rare in the Indian context, as most women reach the top levels way past their child-rearing days.
“There are no regressive policies in Indian organisations against hiring women in leadership roles. (But) I believe that companies will wait if they see value in bringing the person on board,” Krishnan said.
There are many instances of women being at the helm of affairs in corporate India spread across diverse sectors.
The examples include Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank, Kiran M Shaw (Biocon), Shobhana Bhartia (HT Media), Shikha Sharma (Axis Bank), Naina Lal Kidwai (HSBC India), Kalpana Morparia (JP Morgan India), Neelam Dhawan (Hewlett-Packard India), Seema Modi (Heinz India), Prabha Parameswaran (Colgate Palmolive India), Sangeeta Pendurkar (Kellogg India) and Vinita Bali (Britannia), among others. (PTI)
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