WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP IN THE DEVELOPMENT SECTOR
In collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation

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26% of full-time social enterprise employees in India are women, compared to only 14% in the private sector (SSIR) . While this statistic portrays a hopeful picture for the status of women representing the development sector, we still have a long way to go. 26% is still a grossly low representation of women in the impact sector workforce, especially when so many impact issues need to be evaluated with a gender lens. GuideStar’s report of 1,000 organizations showed that the share of women among non-profit CEOs is 43%, with greater inequality in numbers and compensation at larger organizations. Further, only 18% of the largest nonprofits have female CEOs. Further, these numbers do not begin to take into account the unique biases and challenges that women are subject to which include pay disparity, women returning to the workforce post having children, sexual harassment, and so on.

Hear from thought leaders and practitioners.

Watch all the session recordings here.

 
 

WHY WE ARE DOING THIS

In collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation, Arthan has been working on a multi-stakeholder study to chronicle the journeys of women leaders in the development sector. These journeys are meant to serve as a guide to understanding the challenges and opportunities pertaining to Women’s Leadership in the Development Sector (WLIDS), which will help set up industry benchmarks by identifying the challenges to leadership and showcasing the learnings. It will help organisations, donors and policy makers to plan the gender pathways within organisations in order for them to emerge as a gender transformative workplace and help the women in the development sector, to negotiate for equality in roles and power.

We have interviewed 50+ women leaders, from organisations such as Pratham, ASER Centre, Breakthrough, Buzz Women, India Development Review, Educate Girls, Edelgive Foundation, BCG, HSBC, BBC Media Action, Malala Fund, Kinara Capital, SEWA Bharat, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, cutting across NGOs, CSRs, foundations, research institutes, intermediaries, funding organisations. Some of the initial trends emerging from the interviews conducted till now are:

  • Importance of a conducive environment - both at work and home.
    (But what about women who do not receive such support - how can organisations ensure growth and development at par with their colleagues?)

  • Strong gender policies (eg POSH) as well as implementation and internalisation

  • Need for gender sensitization trainings

SESSIONS - 14 JULY, 2020

  • 9.30 am - 10 am

    Introduction to Building Civil Society Organisations of the Future (BCSO) and Women’s Leadership in the Development Sector by Arthan

  • 10 am - 10.30 am
    Keynote Address by Deepali Khanna (    The Rockefeller Foundation)

  • 10.30 am - 11.45 am
    The Need for Allies: What men can do for and learn from women
    Speakers: Anubhuti Patra (Malala Fund), Luis Miranda (Indian School of Public Policy), Sabina Dewan (JustJobs Network), Smarinita Reddy (IDR), Srikanth Viswanathan (Janaagraha)

  • 12 pm - 1.15 pm
    Funding for Women-led Organisations
    Speakers: Aparna Uppaluri (Ford Foundation), Chetna Sinha (Mann Deshi Foundation), Hardika Shah (Kinara Capital), Vidya Shah (EdelGive Foundation), Anchal Kakkar (Arthan)

  • 3 pm - 4.15 pm
    Masterclass by Dasra: Gender Mainstreaming
    Building the case for institutional gender mainstreaming and touching upon the mechanisms of integrating gender. The masterclass will use interactive case based discussions to introduce the participants to the several dimensions across which gender plays out, both at an individual as well as at an organisational level.

  • 4.30 pm - 5 pm
    Announcement of Shakti Incubation Program for Women Entrepreneurs
    Speaker: Renu Shah (C3: Collaborate to Create Change)

  • 5 pm - 6.15 pm
    Evidence-based Solutions: Ways to accelerate women leaders in the social impact sector
    Speakers: Madhuri Mukherjee (Research Expert), Seema Bansal (The Boston Consulting Group), Subhalakshmi Nandi (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Renana Jhabvala (SEWA Bharat)

  • 6.45 pm - 8.00 pm
    Women in Conflict Zones
    Speakers: Deepmala Mahla (CARE), Dr Lina Abirafeh (Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University), Dr Yasmin Haque (UNICEF India), Satyam Vyas (Arthan)

IMMEDIATE OUTCOMES

  • Developing an evidence-based understanding of factors that hinder women’s leadership at both organisational and individual levels

  • Identifying evidence based opportunities that can help women move to leadership roles

  • Identifying evidence based factors that promote women’s participation in the workplace

  • Providing guidance to 500+ professionals, who aspire to become leaders in the impact sector so that they can learn and support each other

  • Encouraging an ecosystem level transformation in the HR policies, culture and mindset of the organisations to be able to become gender responsive and support women’s growth through manuals and guides

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