2020 in review: more women in front seats

8 min readDec 15, 2020

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2020 has been an unusual year for most people on the earth. No matter where we live or what we do or what is our age, it has greatly influenced our lives, for better or worse. True to its nature, people on and off the Internet bestowed 2020 with several titles and unfortunately, so many of them seem relevant. However, amidst all this chaos, one positive news caught our eye, and it felt greatly important to share it here: more representation of women.

With so many big elections happening around the world this year, we were looking forward to seeing more women leading the world and it would be an understatement to say that we were thrilled to see the results. A similar instance happened in the business world where so many companies finally passed the baton to women. As for sports, women continued to show the world that the field (pun intended) is not something reserved for male counterparts. As a whole, be it the entertainment industry or the media or development year, this year, women shattered glass ceilings everywhere.

Business

The year 2020 witnessed a record of women leading businesses, be it tech or textile; finance or transportation; aerospace or pharmaceutical, women created impact everywhere. So much so that Fortune 500 hit an all-time record with 37 females in the forefront leading some of the largest American corporations like General Motors, GAP, Hershey, United Parcel Services.

Adding on to that, there have been big announcements from companies like Nestle Purina, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Mercedes Benz Canada who are all set to welcome some wonderful and exceptional ladies as their CEOs.

India also had its own share of successes with leaders like Roshni Nadar (MD, HCL) and Ashmita Sethi (MD, Pratt and Whitney, India) heading businesses that were considered only male territories. Additionally, the country also stirred the startup world with the stupendous growth of online startups led by capable leaders among the likes of Anchal Dhanuka (Little Muffet), Naiyya Saggi (Babychakra), Ghazal Alagh (MamaEarth).

Politics

One of a few happy moments in 2020 remained seeing Jacinda Arden re-elected as the Prime Minister of New Zealand. As if we were not already in awe of the stateswomanship displayed by her in the last years, her impressive management of the pandemic situation gave us more reasons to fangirl over her. To celebrate even more, with her new cabinet giving diversity goals for leaders, we can only say Yas Queen.

Moving to the US elections, the country set many new records this year. The first one being 135 women elected in office. These well-deserved winners included the women who knocked down the house and created history with their undetermined zeal to make society a better place. The works of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stacey Abrams, Cori Bush, Paula Jean Swearengin spread far and wide not only brought positive change but also became an inspiration for the young girls to join the space. Of course, not to forget how Kamala Harris being elected as the vice president started so many positive conversations on women in politics.

A still from the Netflix show, Knock Down the House

In India, our Kerala Health Minister, KK Shailaja, became one of the most talked politicians with her extraordinary control of the pandemic and the fight against COVID-19. Since we mentioned the pandemic, it only seems wise to recall the mighty speeches made by Mahua Moitra that shook the Parliament by bringing in open the facts our leaders were so not interested in disclosing. Making the other headlines was Renu Devi, the newly elected Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. In many senses, she defied how politics in our country works. Unlike many leaders in India, she was from an ordinary household and started her political journey from the very bottom, only to make it to the top with her hard work and loyalty.

Entertainment

Starting with the recent news of Shefali Shah winning the International Emmys for her show Delhi Crime, the entertainment industry put on quite a show this year, with more and more women finally getting the recognition they deserve. One of the most noticeable being the five women from the industry making it to the list of Fortune’s India Most Powerful Women. On the list were Bollywood actors-producers Anushka Sharma and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, television producer Ekta Kapoor and the content creators Aparna Purohit (Amazon Original) and Monica Shergill (VP, Content at Netflix). To add to the list of good news was an increase in the number of shows and movies with females in the centre. Of them, the most popular ones being Queen’s Gambit, Thappad, Gunjan Saxena, Shakuntala Devi, Bulbbul.

Adding yet another important dimension to the industry this year is the astounding growth of content creators on Instagram and YouTube. When talking about these creators, one cannot help but praise some of the phenomenal ladies out there. In the past few months, we have only grown fonder of our divas like Kusha Kapila, Dolly Singh, Srishti Dixit, Komal Pandey, and many more hardworking women who keep providing us with our daily dose of information and entertainment. The icing on the cake, our generation can count on them when it comes to amplifying voices.

In a not-so-distant world, ladies like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Dua Lipa are ruling the music world. Coke Studio Pakistan is again winning our hearts with their recent release of Na Tutteya Ve, a story of resilience, and an unbroken heart sung by Meesha Shafi, Sanam Marvi, Fariha Pervez, Zara Madani, Wajiha Naqvi, and Sehar Gul Khan.

Technology

Two years back, All Raise was formed to create a tech culture to create a more diverse world where women can lead, shape, and fund the future. This year, they raised a whopping $11 million to take their vision closer to reality, diversity of the workforce in the tech space. Working on similar lines, Ruthe Farme (the former Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the Obama White House) has been continuously and actively taking steps to make the space of tech a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Sports

It comes as great news for us all to see the percentage of females participating in the Olympics is finally approaching fifty. Pre-Covid, it was predicted that women will be forming as high as 49% in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics (now scheduled for 2021). This seems to be a fabulous leap from the number of 45% in the Rio Olympics, 2016.

If not for the virus outbreak, sports aficionados around the world were looking forward to seeing our favourite athletes play. In India, sports fans were all excited to watch their new stars Hima Das and Dutee Chand create magic as well as to see Sania Mirza back in the game from her maternity leave.

Social Impact

Women across the world have continued working restlessly to impact the lives of millions of people. These include the inspirational leaders who form the list of 100 social enterprise leaders; be it Charlie Ann Blair (Founder, The Blair Academy) or Nureen Glaves (CEO, Feed Me Good), or Vicky Smith (Founder, Earth Changers). If anything, the unprecedented times have only made these women come out stronger to help the communities in need.

In India, a little more than a quarter of the total social enterprise employees are women. This list includes women leading some of the biggest social projects in India; Mamta Saikia (CEO, Bharti Foundation), Priti Adani (Chairperson, Adani Foundation). Sudha Murty (Infosys Foundation) to name a few. Besides this, Ingrid Srinath as a director of Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) has been equally impactful in educating people about the social sector and spearheading discussions that talk about creating change.

And as we celebrate the above women and their journeys, we remain cognizant of the fact that we are still far from levelling the field. Much like its predecessors, the first two decades of our modern 21st century, have failed not only in providing equal opportunities to almost half of the population. As we zoom in to the Forbes list, we come to know how women leaders of some big corporations are concentrated at the bottom and how women of colour have not been represented fairly. Even after a long battle of fighting for voting rights, there remains another battle for us to ensure that we are well-represented in politics. As per the World Economic Forum, going by the current rate, it will take us more than 100 years to achieve pay parity.

As a nation, we have surely seen a rise in the number of girls getting educated, however, the number of women taking leadership positions remains low. They always have a responsibility to manage homes, and career becomes the second priority with the overwhelming burden of ‘work-life balance’. With the doom that pandemic brought, the situation has only worsened. There has been a rise in cases of domestic violence all over the world and more women lost their jobs as compared to their male counterparts.

In a society where women are yet to feel safe, how long will be the path to get equal representation?

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