The Overview

Launched early this year (2024), Only Women, is a domain-agnostic networking group and think tank of women thought leaders, with C-Suite executives, founders/ entrepreneurs and senior independent professionals as members, who meet periodically to enhance their learning curve, deliberate on and take up issues related to women professionals, mentor younger leaders, strengthen bonding and support and have shared experiences. An exclusively inclusive place for senior women professionals, Only Women undertakes expert talks, knowledge series/ leadership series, roundtables, panel discussions, annual summits, job fairs for women, mentorship programs for young leaders, sensitization and knowledge workshops, research projects, social causes, education of children and experiential events as its initiatives.

The Narrative

With corporate houses, political ecosystems and societal groups making an effort to “give women their due” in life, personal space, career opportunities and social behaviour, one thing is clear: a paradigm shift is taking place in the gender stratosphere. The talent acquisition teams are often given a target percentage to achieve vis-à-vis women recruitment. Is that enough? Is just recruitment at workplaces being fair to women? Are we doing enough to make them feel included, to encourage them to grow and to upskill them to meet the evolving demands of the professional or entrepreneurial world? Is our professional/ business ambience ‘equal’ enough to enable their voices to be heard?

The Number Crunchers

According to primeinfobase.com, women occupy only 19% of boardroom positions in the private sector while in the public sector, the percentage of women directors is only 14.3 for Nifty 500 companies. Globally, women occupy only about 23% of board seats, and only 14% of entrepreneurs in India are women. However, the picture turns a little rosy when it comes to entrepreneurship. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, “nearly one in every three entrepreneurs running established businesses is a woman” and “globally, women are more likely than men to be solopreneurs (1.47 women solopreneurs for every 1 man)”. This shows that the women themselves are undergoing strong attitudinal, psychological and aspirational changes, changes that are strengthening the fabric of women’s unity.

However, despite the changes taking place in the corporate space, entrepreneurial workplaces, social arenas, political platforms and personal galaxies (homes, friends’ collectives and other places), a lot remains unsaid, undone, unapproached and uninitiated in the women’s ecosystems. We need more trails that lead to international billboards prominently displaying success stories of women leaders.

The Need for Only Women

There is a need for women leaders to connect. A dire need. At whatever level. Professional, personal, economic or social. They need to meet, discuss, share, guide, support, plan, aim, achieve and lead. The gender equality changes that we strive for cannot be restricted to workplace check boxes and international women’s day discussions. They need to be more real. More experiential. More felt. By women themselves. By society. By political leaders. By entrepreneurial ecologies and in the corporate corridors.

They need a community. Only Women is that community.

The Aspiration

To provide a domain-agnostic platform to pioneering women leaders to connect.
To enhance their learning curve through multiple engagements.
To discuss work-life pressures, ideas and issues that concern them.
To create shared memorable experiences.
To share their professional and personal experiences, skills, know-hows, aspirations, suggestions, best practices.
To provide strong peer support to members within the community.
To evolve ways collectively to enable inspiring and empowering other women as leaders.
To offer business networking platform to women thought leaders from across domains.
To try and make a difference to society.