When women leaders are involved in social entrepreneurship, they can bring unique perspectives and experiences to the table, leading to more effective and impactful solutions to social challenges.
The Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, an initiative by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in partnership with the World Economic Forum, in its recent study found significant gaps in the data for social enterprises globally. The State of Social Enterprise 2024 is the “first, comprehensive global data set to estimate the size and scope of social enterprise worldwide”. However, in the context of India, there doesn't exist a similar evidence mechanism to track the social enterprise sector's statistics and how they fare for women. Thus, in 2020, Arthan, in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, embarked on a journey to delve deep into Women's Leadership in the Development Sector (WLIDS). It led to a study chronicling case studies of 50+ women leaders across the impact sector, including NGOs, CSR foundations, research institutes, intermediaries, funding organisations, and social enterprises. The report also documented findings from a survey of 100+ development sector professionals. This study unearthed the challenges women face in the development sector in India, such as lack of access to funding and opportunities, lack of availability of mentorship and upskilling programmes, and resources for building leadership skills in women.
Research states that the global business community is becoming more supportive of women and women’s importance in the economy. This leads to a positive feedback loop – firms that support gender diversity will capture these benefits earlier, leading them to outlast their competitors. Through our conversations with women leaders, we observed that having a woman leader is helpful because there are so many contextual realities that other women in the team could share more openly than a male manager. On the other hand, starkly lower percentages of women leadership in large and mid-size organisations indicate a prevalent structural and systemic bias. This can stem from a need for more trust in leadership capabilities in larger organisations. The study highlights the need for solid gender policies, gender sensitisation training, and funding for women-led organisations.
When women leaders are involved in social entrepreneurship, they can bring unique perspectives and experiences to the table, leading to more effective and impactful solutions to social challenges. For example, women-led social enterprises may be more likely to focus on issues that are important to women and girls, such as education, healthcare, and economic empowerment. A research respondent mentioned how individuals with lived experiences bring more sensitivity to the table.
In 2023, Arthan’s Women at Work initiative found that female-led organisations strongly favour embracing inclusive and community-based approaches in their projects (e.g., the target population is encouraged to document their own experiences, which can be later beneficial to design programmes). In addition, women leaders can mentor and inspire other women to become involved in social entrepreneurship. This multiplier effect can lead to even more significant social change. According to the Harvard Business Review, it was found that women leaders exhibit the majority of transformational traits, while male counterparts employ transactional leadership styles. Women leaders are known to have exceptional impacts, including promoting inclusive maternal/paternal leave policies and championing gender diversity in the workforce.
This led to the Women at Work initiative to understand the gaps mentioned above and create solutions. This study started with 70 organisations and will be extended to cover more to capture a thorough understanding of the social impact sector in India. The study answered a lot of questions, such as -
- How are gender-intentional strategies and processes being integrated into organisational culture?
- What is the nature of policies and practices that are prioritised?
- What are some gender-friendly good practices in organisations?
- What are the needs for building capacities in development organisations in India?
Studies such as these nudge us to counteract this multifaceted problem and advance leadership by all women in the development sector. But how can this issue be dealt with when faced with the lack of data on social enterprises, particularly regarding their impact on social and environmental problems? We set out to research the state of social enterprise by mapping the existing data and identifying gaps. This research by the American India Foundation highlights the issue of social impact organisations face in India while collecting and analysing data for internal purposes. The picture on the outside looks even more bleak. There is a lack of existing literature that focuses solely on the social impact ecosystem in India, representing its unique challenges and promoting solutions. Hence a critical pillar at Equilead is research and data which we plan to use to inform our interventions and to influence awareness, action, assessment and acknowledgement in our sector.
Taking forward the work of Arthan’s Women at Work initiative, EquiLead, supported by Climate Asia and Arthan Foundation, builds insights on gender equity gaps and opportunities through research, dialogues and data endeavours; showcase and champion good practices and practitioners; start, lead, join and inform conversations and collaborations on institutional and individual priorities to engineer gender equity and women's leadership. We welcome collaboration from organisations seeking support in data-backed actionable strategies, leveraging our human capital expertise and gaining valuable support and access to tailored research. Or are you interested in participating in the extension of EquiLead’s landscaping study? Write to us at pritha@equilead.org or via our LinkedIn to discuss potential collaboration opportunities.
