Still long way to go for gender diversity in top roles: Report
The 2008 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners of the FP500 finds women hold just 16.9 per cent of corporate officer roles in these organizations. This is up 1.8 percentage points from 2006, a larger increase than was seen between 2002 and 2006 (1.1 percentage points) but still well below women’s 47.1-per-cent representation in the total labour force and their 37.2-per-cent representation in management positions.
By not taking full advantage of women, organizations are impeding their own financial success, said Laura Jenner, chief researcher at Catalyst, a New York-based research and advisory organization that promotes women in business.
Previous Catalyst research of Fortune 500 companies in the United States has shown a correlation between greater gender diversity at the top and financial performance. The 2004 study found return on equity was 35.1 per cent higher in the most gender diverse companies compared to the least gender diverse and total return to shareholders was 34 per cent higher.
“At a time when Canadian organizations are facing a global economy that is seeing its greatest challenges in decades, our organizations really need to tap into as wide a range of talent as possible,” said Jenner, who is also the author of the report.
“Certainly there’s a bottom-line payoff when companies look to enhance gender diversity in the upper ranks of their organizations.”
While the proportion of women who lead FP 500 organizations has doubled from 2.8 per cent in 2002, when Catalyst began conducting its bi-annual census, they only led six per cent of FP 500 organizations in 2008 and made up just 5.6 per cent of top earners.
While there was a slight decrease in the proportion of companies with no women corporate officers, 32 per cent of companies still don’t have a woman in these roles.
Mentors, networks, critical assignments needed
There are several reasons why so few women fill these top positions, said Jenner. Women face multiple barriers to career advancement, including a lack of development opportunities, such as mentors, networks and access to critical assignments. They also face gender-based stereotypes in the workplace, she said.
“They’re not seen necessarily as high potential or as leaders through the talent-management systems we have in place,” said Jenner. “These erroneous stereotypes might mean that they’re less likely to be seen as having a lot of potential, might be less likely to be hand-picked for certain assignments.”
An important improvement noted in the report is the increase in the proportion of companies with multiple women officers, up to 44.9 per cent from 39.4 per cent in 2006, and the decrease in the proportion of organizations with just one woman officer, from 26.6 per cent to 23.1 per cent.
Research shows that having a “token” woman can actually hinder the benefits of diversity, states the report.
“The extent to which you have a critical mass of women or diverse people, that changes the nature of the meeting, that changes the dynamic of the room,” said Sylvia Chrominska, global head of global human resources and communications with Scotiabank in Toronto.
Several initiatives for women at Scotiabank
Chrominska was Scotiabank’s first female executive vice-president and often struggled with self-confidence when in a room of male executives, she said. But she persevered and the bank has implemented several programs, including the Advancement of Women strategy, to help other women climb the executive ranks. These measures have helped the bank increase the proportion of women in the most senior roles from 26.7 per cent in 2003 to 36.8 per cent in 2006.
As part of the Advancement of Women strategy, senior management is held accountable for hiring and advancing women at all levels, said Chrominska.
“It was very important to instil that accountability, otherwise I believe the representation of women wouldn’t have changed,” she said.
The program also supports and facilitates the mentoring of women through initiatives such as Scotia Women’s Connection, a speaker’s event where women in the bank can learn from a senior woman leader.
“It gives them a role model in an environment that was previously, largely male role models,” said Chrominska.
While the Catalyst report found an increase in the proportion of women holding line positions — those corporate officer roles connected to profit and loss and often a prerequisite to promotion to the highest ranks of an organization — they only held 11.4 per cent of these roles in 2008.
On the other hand, women held 25.1 per cent of all staff officer positions, which provide functional support to the business. This shows that even within the corporate officer ranks women are less likely to be in positions of influence.
Crown corporations, private companies drive increase
The report found private companies and crown corporations drove most of the growth in women’s representation, while public companies experienced stagnation on this front.
Of 219 private companies, 18.5 per cent had women in corporate officer positions, up from 16.4 per cent in 2006. Of 44 Crown corporations, 26.6 per cent had women in corporate officer positions, up from 23.4 per cent in 2006. But only 13.9 per cent of 232 public companies had women in corporate officer positions, an increase of just 0.9 percentage points from 2006.
This difference can be partly explained by the fact many public companies on the FP 500 are in male-dominated industries while the private companies and Crown corporations tend to be in more female-dominated industries, said Jenner.
Also, in some instances, Crown corporations have been legislated to increase the representation of women, she said.Climbing the ranks
Tips for advancing women The 2008 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners of the FP500 has the following recommendations to increase the proportion of women in the most senior positions. Develop a diverse slate of candidates • Require a diverse slate of qualified candidates for corporate officer and executive positions. • Develop a pipeline of qualified, “ready now” women. • Recruit externally if no qualified women are available internally. Redefine leadership • Formally value and evaluate a range of leadership attributes beyond those usually associated with men. • Enhance transparency to ensure employees know what it takes to • Monitor performance evaluations and high-potential identification by gender. Give equitable access to development opportunities • Ensure women have access to mentoring, networking and role models. • Monitor the distribution of job enrichment, mentoring, high-potential programs and high-visibility assignments. • Facilitate women’s movement into line positions.
succeed.
