This refers to the news report “Women to get one reserved seat on company boards” (March 9). It is good news that the government will make the presence of women directors in a board mandatory by including a provision in the proposed Companies Bill, as a result of which all companies will have to reserve at least one seat in the board of directors for women candidates if the board comprises five or more independent directors. The objective is laudable. But how does one look at the concept of reservation? There are too many reservations at too many places.
From another angle, it seems the focus is on providing women with some concession or helping them achieve a seat on the board for reasons of incapacity and deficiency. But women are not at any kind of disadvantage, and nothing prevents them from joining the board. In fact, they are quite capable of competing with men in any field.
If women can enter the corporate world, join the police force, take the film industry by storm, excel in sports, fly an airplane and even work as cab drivers without being granted any reservation, what is the need to reserve a seat for them in the company board? When educational institutions offer men and women equal opportunities, why should the latter be handed out the “crutch of reservation” only to enter a company’s board. A helping hand is necessary for the weak and by no stretch of imagination can a woman be termed weak. Also, it is hard to understand how a woman director in a company will benefit the women folk.
Prem K Menon, Mumbai
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