NEW DELHI: An Indian Business School has begun a novel course; one that will seek to churn out better and more women political leaders into the nation's political arena. The Center for Public Policy (CPP) at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B), along with the Center for Social Research (CSR) based in New Delhi, is now offering the nation's first course in political leadership exclusively for women called the “India-Women in Leadership (IWIL) program”. In a country whose political sphere is dominated by males and uneducated legislators, the move is seen as a huge step in the forward direction. “IIM-B and CSR have launched this course jointly to build creative, knowledgeable and innovative women leadership. Investing in women through formal training will help in creating a pipeline of confident and successful women leaders,” Dr Ranjana Kumari the Director of CSR said. The three month long course will include field visits to other countries such as Singapore, as well as visits to the nation's political capital New Delhi, besides lectures. The first batch is scheduled to begin on July 16, this year. India has a poor record when it comes to gender gap in politics. The World Economic Forum ranked India 24 out of 135 countries in its Gender Gap Index for women's political participation. “Not only are there too few women in Indian politics, but women also face different barriers in their quest to become leading politicians in India. Therefore, women in politics need specialized skills and strategies in order to win elections and pursue the policies that matter most to them”, said Dr Kumari. The Indian government has been trying to pass the Women's representation bill, which will guarantee 33% reservation to women legislators to make it to the state and central houses of people's representatives. The bill has however been caught up over differences between political parties.
