Women professionals are better for business and the environment
Female leadership is characterised by vision and the ability to convey it to others, research shows, but senior sustainability jobs are more likely to be held by men. The reasons vary across countries and industries. But three common hurdles crop up all the time:
- Cultural assumptions (“she’ll leave as soon as she has children”),
- Workplace biases (promotion through male self-promotion, for instance) and
- Policy impediments (such as minimal paternity leave).
If we want more women in more senior roles, it will require policy answers for each of the above areas. More flexi-time options and family-friendly norms are two obvious measures for employers. Gender-balanced parental leave and tougher rules on wage discrimination should be top of the list.
Countries such as Norway, Spain, Belgium and France have experimented with mandating quotas for female board participation. Others, such as Finland and Australia, have implemented gender disclosure requirements. Recently the United Kingdom required all companies with over 250 staff to publish income disparity. Evidence to support such any of these approaches remains unclear.
Diversity of any kind, not just gender diversity, in an organisation leads to better outcomes because there are more diverse inputs and more voices. If you are building a company that creates an environment that is supportive of making good lifestyles choices … then it will attract employees.
Also companies with higher female representation on their boards tend to give higher priority to environmental and social issues. The more gender-balanced an executive team, the more likely the company is to invest in renewable power, low-carbon products and energy efficiency.
The evidence is growing, the benefits to organisations are clear. Companies looking to sustain profit, retention of their staff and preserve the environment need to do more to balance the gender gap. You have nothing to lose and much to gain in all your areas of your business.
