8 March is not a celebration for us. It is a checkpoint.
Across health systems, agriculture, and climate action, women are the majority of the workforce, delivering care, growing food, and holding communities together. The World Health Organisation estimates women make up nearly 70% of the global health workforce. FAO data shows women represent around 40% of agricultural labour globally. Yet when you look at who controls capital, shapes policy, or leads institutions, representation drops sharply.
This is not symbolic. It is structural.
When women are absent from decision-making, systems are designed without lived realities at the table. And when representation shifts, outcomes shift.
At AndPurpose, we don’t treat Women’s Day as a moment. We treat leadership equity as infrastructure.
In this edition of People, Planet & Purpose, we examine why women’s leadership is not a symbolic aspiration, but a structural requirement for better outcomes for a better world.
The Representation Gap: Healthcare
Women run health systems. They rarely lead them.
Globally, women constitute nearly 70% of the health and social care workforce, delivering services to an estimated 5 billion people.
Yet they occupy only 25–33% of senior leadership roles in health organisations (WHO). (World Health Organization).
The pattern holds across contexts.
- In the United States, women make up almost 80% of the health workforce and 88% of nurses, yet women physicians face a 26% pay gap and remain underrepresented in research leadership. (American Medical Women’s Association).
- At the World Health Assembly (WHA78, 2025), women represented just 26.6% of Chief Delegates, down from 32% in 2023 (Women in Global Health).
- In India, women form the backbone of frontline care, around 80% of nurses and nearly all ASHA workers, yet hold only about 18% of healthcare leadership positions (Forbes India). (Forbes India).
When women deliver care but do not shape policy, funding, and research priorities, health systems reflect an imbalance, not lived reality.
The Representation Gap: Climate
Climate leadership: women are frontline actors, not central decision-makers
Climate change is not gender-neutral.
Women and girls face disproportionate risks during climate-related disasters, including higher exposure to displacement, livelihood loss, and food insecurity (UN Women; (UN Climate Change).
Yet representation in climate leadership remains uneven. Women account for roughly 32% of the global renewable energy workforce, with even lower participation in technical and STEM roles (IRENA).
Their presence declines further at the top; women hold about 19% of senior leadership roles in renewables, and an estimated 10–15% of executive positions in climate tech (IRENA).
At global climate negotiations, women comprise approximately one-third of delegates, and representation across major environmental governance bodies remains inconsistent (UNFCCC data; United Nations).
When climate policy is shaped without women in decision-making roles, adaptation strategies risk overlooking community-level knowledge on resilience, resource management, and social protection, weakening long-term climate effectiveness.
What Is Required to Bring Change?
If the imbalance is structural, the response must be structural. Three shifts matter:
1. Capital Reallocation
Women-founded startups receive just ~2% of global venture capital funding (PitchBook, 2023). Climate and agri-tech funding reflect similar patterns (BCG, Why Women-Led Startups Are a Better Bet). Without intentional capital deployment by LPs, funds, and institutions, representation will not shift.
2. Leadership Pipelines
Women dominate frontline roles in health and agriculture (WHO; FAO), yet remain underrepresented in executive and board positions. This is not a talent gap; it is a sponsorship and governance design gap.
3. Platform Power
Research shows visibility influences funding and authority (Harvard Business Review). Who is invited to speak, quoted as an expert, or moderating capital rooms directly shapes opportunity flows.
Equity is institutional design, not symbolism.
Women at the Heart of AndPurpose 💜
At AndPurpose, representation is not an annual theme; it is reflected in deliberate design choices.
Across our AndPurpose Forums in 2025 in New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, 43% of our speakers were women.
Not as symbolic inclusions, but as founders, investors, policymakers, and sector leaders shaping conversations on climate finance, agriculture, public health, and capital deployment.
In sectors where decision-making tables remain male-dominated, we have been intentional about who moderates, who leads capital discussions, and whose expertise is platformed. Representation is embedded in curation, not added as an afterthought.
For us, equity is not performative. It is operational.
It shows up in speaker selection, partnership design, and the authority we assign on stage.
Visibility influences capital, credibility, and policy.
And, Thoughtful representation changes outcomes.
Hottest Grants this Week
AndPurpose Grants
The British Ecological Society (BES) invites applications for its Outreach and Engagement Grants to support innovative public engagement with ecological science. Offering up to £2,000, the grant is open to BES members delivering creative, non-academic outreach activities that raise awareness of ecology, ecological careers, and environmental action. Projects may use in-person or digital formats and must engage public audiences directly.
Deadline: March 10, 2026
The PFAN Project Grant supports scalable clean energy and climate adaptation projects in developing regions by providing expert financial advisory and access to large-scale investment. Eligible, commercially viable projects can seek USD 1–50 million in funding support.. For more details:
Deadline: 15 March 2026
Spotlight: women building what the future needs
The women who take the AndPurpose stage are not just speakers; they are builders shaping systems from the ground up. Few heroes leading the change:
- Nidhi Pant
Co-founder of S4S Technologies, Nidhi converts farm losses into value-added products through solar dehydration, working with 6,500+ farmers and 500+ micro-entrepreneurs. Her work proves climate action can be scalable and inclusive, earning her the Earthshot Prize in 2023.
- Shloka Nath
As CEO of the India Climate Collaborative, Shloka mobilises philanthropic capital to accelerate climate action, bringing equity and accountability into climate governance.
- Purvi Bhavsar
Co-founder of Pahal Financial Services, Purvi is reshaping access to finance for underserved communities, challenging traditional norms around who gets funded and why.
- Nalini Shekar
Co-founder of Hasiru Dala, Nalini has advanced dignity, rights, and livelihoods for over 25,000 waste-picker families, redefining them as environmental stewards within the circular economy.
Together, these women reflect the leadership the future demands: deeply intentional, quietly radical, and grounded in impact.
Closing Note
Not in symbolism, but in systems change.
We do not need louder applause.
We need shared power.
Women are already building, strengthening health systems, protecting livelihoods, restoring soil, and stewarding communities. When women lead, outcomes improve. Economies stabilise. Futures become more resilient.
This is not only about equity. It is about building a better world, for people and for Mother Earth.
A resilient future requires women at the tables where capital flows, policies are shaped, and climate decisions are made.
This Women’s Day, let the roar be structural.
Beyond visibility to voice.
Beyond celebration to power shared.
Because when women lead, systems shift, and the planet benefits.
With Love & Purpose,
Team AndPurpose
