The Expanding Influence of Women in Innovation
Deval Delivala, Founder and CEO of Walkabout Active Agers Pvt. Ltd, shares his perspective on why representation in leadership is critical to building solutions that truly serve society.
Consider what happens in a room where everyone shares the same background, education, and career path. Diverse thinking disappears. People end up solving only the version of the problem they understand, overlooking the realities they have never experienced. That blind spot carries a cost — one organisations often pay quietly for years before recognising what they have missed.
Having spent nearly two decades in technology and the past several years building WalkAbout, a community for active agers, I have seen how this challenge repeats itself across industries. In both technology and ageing, the people designing solutions rarely reflect those they are building for. In the ageing sector, this gap is particularly stark. The fastest-growing demographic in the world is frequently designed for by teams who have never lived that experience. Products that appear innovative in presentations often fail in practice — interfaces assume digital fluency, health platforms are never tested with someone over 75, and services overlook the everyday realities of ageing. The issue is not intent; it is perspective.
Women, globally, provide the majority of informal care for older family members. They navigate healthcare systems, coordinate between specialists, manage medications, and handle logistics — often alongside full-time careers. This is not peripheral experience; it is operational expertise. It influences the kinds of questions asked in product meetings, the risks anticipated before launch, and the instinct to distinguish between what sounds compelling and what will genuinely work.
When Leena Nair became Global CEO of Chanel, headlines focused on her being the first person of colour and the first HR leader to hold the role. What received less attention was the depth of her experience — decades spent understanding people, organisational culture, and internal systems. Leadership shaped by that perspective changes what gets prioritised and who feels represented.
The ageing sector offers its own example. Sarah Harper, one of the world’s foremost gerontologists, has long argued that ageing is not a problem to be solved but a demographic reality to be designed for. That reframing shifted conversations among governments and businesses alike, repositioning older populations from being viewed as a systemic burden to an economic force with specific, underserved needs. A different question led to different investments, policies, and product categories.
T
he organisations that will lead the next decade understand a simple truth: the room shapes the decision. Including women in leadership is not symbolic; it is strategic. It is about recognising what it takes to make sound decisions at scale. Change who is in the room, and you change what gets built.
