In a last-minute rush, wives and daughters have come to the rescue of the listed companies to ensure compliance with a new norm for having at least one woman director on their boards that have been so far dominated by fathers and sons.

While most of the new women directors are family members of the promoters or top executives, some companies have replaced their independent directors with their female family members, mainly wives, daughters or sisters. To ensure gender-diversity in boardrooms, capital markets regulator Sebi has asked all listed firms to have at least one woman director on their respective boards tomorrow onwards.