08/16/2019

Creating a 50/50 Workforce

Gender equity’s time has come

The facts are in! Businesses need diverse talent to optimize performance. Women’s leadership has gained tremendous strides in just the last year alone, as nationwide movements, such as #MeToo and Time’s Up, have generated new momentum for women to lead on important issues. The 2018 mid-term elections yielded a record number of women serving in Congress and a record number of women are now running for president. Even the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team felt empowered to speak up for equal pay at this year’s World Cup Soccer tournament.

In business to date, there has been talk but it hasn’t translated to action that drives change. It’s true that many companies and organizations value diversity and inclusion now more than ever and they are starting to take the next steps needed to actually drive the change we have all been talking about. But business still has a long way to go. Although women comprise more than 40 percent of the global workforce, they hold fewer than 25 percent of leadership roles. According to a McKinsey study, at the rate we are going, it will take well over 100 years for women to gain parity in leadership roles. We need to remove barriers and evolve corporate cultures to provide leadership access for women and to foster a more open, inclusive, and empathetic work culture.

Numerous research reports indicate that having more women in leadership roles can lead to increased global GDP. So, if we all agree on the need and rationale, why is there not more change in the numbers of women in leadership roles?

Please select this link to read the complete article from Chief Executive.