The Conversation

Do women wield any real power in the boardroom? Kim Chakanetsa gets together top female executives from India and Ireland to discuss. Named one of India's most powerful women by Fortune India, Roopa Kudva has extensive experience of sitting on the board, both as a CEO and as an independent director. She currently leads the philanthropic investment firm, Omidyar Network, in India and also sits on the boards of Infosys and Tata AIA Life Insurance as an independent director. Roopa says companies should have more women on their boards for two simple reasons: 50% of their customers are women, and companies with diverse boards have been proven to perform better. Adaire Fox-Martin joined the executive board of the global software solutions company SAP in 2017, where she is one of two women. The board area she is jointly responsible for is Global Customer Operations, and she oversees the whole of Europe as well as China. Adaire describes this board area as the 'Crown Jewels of the company'. While she is not necessarily a fan of quotas per se, she says she can see that regulation and legislation can begin to effect change further down the line, and lead to an increase in the numbers of women in senior management. This in turn means that more women are now breaking through to board level. Image: (L) Adaire Fox-Martin. Credit: SAP Image and credit: (R) Roopa Kudva. Credit: Omidyar Network