Making of the Trendsetter Generation of Women Leaders in India: Dimensionalizing the Impact of Economic Liberalization

Abstract

To dimensionalize and empirically study the impact of economic liberalization on the making of the second generation of Indian women leaders, referred to as ‘trendsetters’, we identified, discussed and illustrated 4 levels x 3 elements or 12 dimensions. We interviewed a sample of ninety women, born after the year 1970, at different levels of managerial leadership in India. We analyzed the 12 dimensions of impact of economic liberalization using a review of academic and popular literature, and then enlivened these using snapshots of the lived experiences of our women trendsetters. Women trendsetters experienced accelerated leadership formation in the context of the freedom offered by various dimensions of economic liberalization, and were not slowed down or held hostage by the cultural traditions and entrenched systems. The experiences of women trendsetters in India offer valuable guidelines for constructing appropriate institutional codes that may have broader relevance.