IMPACT magazine from the exchange4media Group has arranged a panel to recognize the remarkable achievements of women in Indian media, advertising and the marketing domain. The panel includes only men. Needless to say, social media isn't too happy about it.
The IMPACT 50 Most Influential Women of 2016: Meet The Jury (and spot the women on it). HT @nonitakalra @calamur pic.twitter.com/yqxwhrUab7
— Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) March 2, 2016
The media group will choose the 'most influential woman' among 50 women who have "redefined the dynamics of power and influence" in the media industry.
The jury, chaired by Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director of Madison World, includes other powerful men from the industry-- Ambi MG Parameswaran, advisor, FCB Ulka, Arvind Sharma, chairman, Cheetahsoft Technologies, I. Venkat, director, Eenadu, Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, Rohit Gupta, president, Sony Pictures Networks, Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Mogae Group, Shireesh Joshi, COO, Strategic Marketing Group, Godrej Industries, Sunil Gautam, founder & partner, Pitchfork Partners Strategic Consulting LLP, Timmy Kandhari, MD, Sapphire Professional Services Pvt. Ltd and Vikas Khanchandani, director at AIDEM Ventures Pvt. Ltd.
This is how social media has been responding to this panel.
The irony: Not a single woman on the judging panel pic.twitter.com/mjL6mKJ0Z1
— nonita kalra (@nonitakalra) March 2, 2016
Of course there isn't a single woman capable of judging 50 influential women in marketing and advertising https://t.co/KTIO2Abfdj
— Veena Venugopal (@veenavenugopal) March 2, 2016
A jury of 9 men deciding on the most influential women! Not one woman in the panel! #irony @ColorsTV @Viacom pic.twitter.com/s20kSNMRyk
— Neha Pandey (@NehaPan) March 2, 2016
@UshyMohanDas @veenavenugopal @prasanto @nonitakalra @calamur maybe to balance it out should have all-woman panel to identify 50 impact men
— D Prasanth Nair (@DPrasanthNair) March 2, 2016
@nonitakalra @KanikaBains Gotta give them credit for using pink and purple in the ad though. Nahi to pata kaise chalega women awards hain?
— Apoorv Khatreja (@ap00rv) March 2, 2016
This is the fifth year of this award.
However, the no woman panel choosing the best woman is not a new phenomenon. The same trend has been following since 2012.
Last year, the publication made an exception by including a woman.
Facebook India MD Kirthiga Reddy, who topped the list, was chosen by a panel that had just one woman on it--Vinita Bali, former MD, Britannia Industries Limited.
In 2014, when acclaimed business author, Rama Bijapurkar won the award, the jury didn't have any women member either.
In 2013, when Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director HT Media Group won the award, there was no woman in the panel either. It was the same in 2012 too.
Do the organizers really think there are no women working in marketing, media and advertising across industries who could have been a good fit? What about the winners from the previous years, if you want to go for low-hanging fruits?
Anurag Batra, Editor-in-Chief of exchange4media group, told HuffPost India that this is a "complete non-issue". "We don't choose panel members based on their gender. It's based on their qualification," he said.
Asked if they found no woman to be qualified enough, Batra said that most of them were on the list of 'remarkable women'.
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