Beyond the boardroom: Voices of women leaders on overcoming societal hurdles

In 1960s Madras, a girl and her sister were made to participate in a night-time ritual at the dinner table, where their mother would ask them to write a speech about what they would do if they were president or prime minister of a country. Every day, they would be asked to impersonate a different leader. After dinner, the girls would give their prepared speeches, and their mother would decide the winner, who then signed a piece of paper accepting her position as the world leader of the day. The mother and daughters had a lot of fun with the exercise, but it also taught the girl to believe in herself and to dream big. Despite growing up in a conservative society, her mother gave her the confidence to be whoever she wanted to be.

That girl is Indra Nooyi, who went on to do her MBA from the Yale School of Management in 1980, and later became the first female CEO of PepsiCo. After spearheading several major acquisitions, significantly improving the net revenue of the company and consistently being ranked among the world’s 100 most powerful women, nothing seemed impossible for Nooyi; the world was her playing field. And then, 12 years ago, the woman who seemed to have it all made an astounding statement—that women can’t have it all. She said that juggling her career with raising her two children inevitably took a toll. “Being a stay-at-home mother is a full-time job,” she said. “Being a CEO is three jobs in one. How can you do justice to all of them?”

Many women have chosen to give up their careers for the sake of their families, or vice versa. The numbers are there to prove it, said Shobha Ratna, chief human resources officer at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, during a session on women and leadership at the second edition of the Mpowering Minds Summit 2026. Only 10 per cent of global CEOs and 30 per cent of those in senior management are women. In India, nearly 50 per cent of women step back from their careers because of work-life issues.

“As women, we have to keep proving ourselves over and over again,” said Sunita Wazir, head of transformation—global health & wellbeing, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. “Unfortunately, there is a particular style of leadership that is connected with power in workplaces [where one must be seen as being aggressive]. There is a lot of sacrifice and negotiation on a day-to-day basis to be a woman leader. What choices do I make? Do I care for my family or attend a work meeting? Do I give up my sleep? What else do I need to give up? We need to move away from the narrative that resilience is me giving up everything that I care about to be successful. Also, structurally we are not designed to support women. If we design workplace processes, systems and structures in a way that is conducive to women, we will see a lot of change.”

These challenges and trade-offs are not just for women in the corporate sphere. Celebrated sportsperson Anju Bobby George spoke about facing stiff opposition from her family when her mother decided to enrol her in athletics. They told her she would become dark playing in the sun and would not be able to find a husband. Later, when George began her international career, she faced criticism for wearing makeup and nail paint while competing. “If I looked good, it boosted my confidence,” she said. “To all the critics, my answer was my jumps, my medals.”

So, what can we do to support women in their leadership journey? “As a society, we should judge women by their merit and performance, and not by their gender,” said IPS officer Padmini Sahoo. “My male counterparts certainly do not face the amount of scrutiny that I do.” She also said that although we have enough policies and welfare measures for women in the public sector, we still judge those who avail of them.

Neuro coach and speaker Saloni Suri stressed the importance of women becoming financially independent. “The minute a woman understands money, she gets power. She gets to call the shots because it is her money. Does she want to use it to get a maid or a driver? Does she want to spend it for her comfort? It is her call.”

What is most important to remember, said Ratna, is that ambition and well-being are not opposites. Women do not need to be stronger; leadership systems need to be wiser. And leadership maturity is not measured by how much authority we hold, but rather, how much lighter we can make leadership for others.