For nine nights during Navratri, millions celebrate Shakti — the divine feminine energy associated with strength, wisdom, courage, prosperity and transformation. In Hindu tradition, the nine forms of Goddess Durga, collectively known as Navadurga, represent different dimensions of this power. Yet, beyond the festivities lies an uncomfortable contradiction. Societies that revere feminine strength in the divine realm have not always been equally willing to recognise women’s authority in the human one.
The numbers tell their own story
Women account for roughly 40 per cent of the global workforce, yet remain underrepresented in positions of power. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, women held approximately 29.5 per cent of senior leadership positions worldwide. At the current rate of progress, the report estimated that closing the global gender gap would take 123 years. Progress, clearly, is not the same as parity. Women leaders also navigate expectations that can be difficult to reconcile. Assertiveness may be interpreted as aggression; caution as indecision; ambition as self-interest. The same characteristics that signal authority in one individual may be judged differently in another.
Perhaps, then, the question is not whether women possess the qualities necessary to lead, but whether our understanding of leadership has evolved sufficiently to recognise them. Modern leadership extends far beyond titles and hierarchies. It is measured by the ability to influence decisions, build institutions, navigate uncertainty, create opportunities and leave systems stronger than one found them.
Here are nine qualities that deserve recognition — during Navratri and throughout the year.
1. Courage — The Conviction to Begin
Every significant achievement begins with a measure of uncertainty. Whether establishing a business, challenging an established convention or entering a profession where women remain underrepresented, courage often means acting without the assurance of success. For women, the decision to lead may also involve questioning social expectations about whose ambitions deserve encouragement.
The Leadership Lesson: Courage is not the absence of doubt, but the decision not to be governed by it.
2. Empathy — The Intelligence of Understanding
For decades, conventional leadership models often equated authority with emotional distance. Contemporary thinking increasingly recognises that understanding people is not an alternative to effective decision-making; it is an important part of it.
Empathy allows leaders to appreciate different experiences, anticipate concerns and cultivate trust. It does not require avoiding difficult conversations or compromising standards. The distinction is important: compassionate leadership can be demanding, decisive and accountable.
The Leadership Lesson: Understanding people does not diminish authority. It gives authority greater purpose.
3. Resilience — The Capacity to Rebuild
Professional success is rarely linear. Careers encounter interruptions, enterprises face setbacks and personal responsibilities reshape ambitions.
For many women, resilience also involves navigating structural obstacles, from unequal access to networks and capital to the disproportionate burden of unpaid care.
But resilience should not become an excuse for institutions to leave those obstacles unaddressed. A fairer society must do more than celebrate women’s ability to endure difficulty; it must reduce unnecessary barriers.
The Leadership Lesson: Resilience helps individuals overcome setbacks. Good leadership also works to remove the barriers that create them.
4. Collaboration — The Power of Collective Achievement
The image of the solitary, commanding leader has long dominated popular ideas of success. Yet few enduring achievements are the work of one individual.
Collaboration requires the confidence to invite disagreement, acknowledge expertise and distribute responsibility. It recognises that leadership is not diminished when others contribute to decisions. In increasingly interconnected organisations, the ability to unite diverse skills and perspectives is a strategic advantage.
The Leadership Lesson: Authority can direct people. Collaboration enables them to achieve more together.
5. Adaptability — The Discipline of Reinvention
Artificial intelligence, technological disruption and changing economic realities are redefining the skills required in almost every profession.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that 39 per cent of workers’ existing skills will be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. Experience remains valuable, but it can no longer be treated as a substitute for continued learning. Adaptable leaders are willing to question familiar assumptions, acquire new knowledge and reconsider methods that once served them well.
The Leadership Lesson: Experience teaches us what has worked. Adaptability prepares us for what comes next.
6. Integrity — The Foundation of Credibility
Leadership is tested not only by the decisions that produce success, but also by those that demand sacrifice. Integrity becomes visible when fairness, transparency or accountability carries a personal or professional cost. It is the willingness to uphold principles even when compromise might offer an easier path.
For institutions, ethical leadership is more than an individual virtue. It establishes the standards by which decisions are made and trust is sustained.
The Leadership Lesson: Achievement earns recognition. Integrity earns lasting trust.
7. Vision — The Ability to Imagine Change
Vision begins with the recognition that present circumstances need not determine future possibilities.
It may take the form of an entrepreneur identifying an unmet need, a scientist pursuing an unconventional question, or a community leader creating opportunities where few previously existed.
But vision is more than imagination. It requires translating ideas into priorities, mobilising resources and sustaining effort beyond the initial enthusiasm.
The Leadership Lesson: Vision sees possibilities. Leadership turns them into progress.
8. Inclusivity — Beyond Representation
Representation matters because visibility challenges assumptions about who can exercise authority. But representation alone does not guarantee equality of opportunity.
A woman may reach the highest position in an organisation while the structures beneath her remain largely unchanged.
Meaningful inclusion requires fair access to recruitment, advancement, resources and decision-making. It also means recognising that women do not share identical experiences or face identical barriers.
The measure of progress is not simply how many women reach the top, but whether the path becomes more accessible to those who follow.
The Leadership Lesson: Being the first is a milestone. Making room for others is institutional change.
9. Mentorship — The Legacy of Shared Success
Individual achievement can inspire admiration. Shared knowledge can create lasting transformation. Mentorship enables experience, professional networks and practical wisdom to pass between generations. Sponsorship goes a step further: it involves actively advocating for someone’s advancement and opening doors that might otherwise remain closed.
Both matter, particularly where informal networks have historically influenced access to opportunity. The most consequential leaders understand that their influence should extend beyond their own tenure.
The Leadership Lesson: Success becomes a legacy when it creates opportunities for others.
Beyond the Nine: From Reverence to Recognition
There is an important distinction to make. These nine qualities are not inherently feminine, nor should women be required to demonstrate extraordinary courage, resilience or empathy merely to receive opportunities available to others. They are attributes of effective leadership, regardless of gender. Nor should the celebration of exceptional women obscure the circumstances of ordinary women — those whose work, judgement, ambition and contributions sustain families, institutions and economies without public recognition. The nine nights of Navratri offer a powerful cultural metaphor. But the real measure of a society’s respect for Shakti lies beyond ritual.
It lies in whether women have equitable access to education, economic opportunity, financial independence, professional advancement and positions of influence.
We have long understood how to worship feminine power. The greater challenge is learning to recognise, respect and share it in everyday life.