Gender equity is about good business as well as fairness

Why does it matter that women are not wellrepresented among the highest-paid public sector executives in Hamilton?

Two reasons. One, that lack of female representation is representative of a larger problem. And two, it is passing strange that at most of Hamilton’s major public institutions, women are under-represented at the highest levels of management.

Let’s be clear on the premise here. A standard response on questions of pay and gender equity is: Shouldn’t competence and merit be all that matters? That misses the point. Whether we’re talking about Hamilton’s leading public institutions or the workforce in general, those qualities are not in short supply.

There is a mountain of evidence showing that workplaces that have a reasonable gender balance in leadership are more successful and sustainable than those that don’t. That doesn’t mean there must be a precise reflection of the general population. It means there should be some semblance of equity. Of the 25 public sector top earners in Hamilton in 2017, just two were female. That’s not even in the ballpark.

Does that mean that there isn’t an adequate supply of qualified female executive candidates? That could be a factor, but it doesn’t explain the vast disparity. So what does it mean? We can’t pretend to know as we’re not sitting around the governance tables of these institutions. But at those tables, the governors should be asking themselves that question. Could it be that their working and executive cultures aren’t flexible or responsive enough? Are there efforts to address work/life balance with measures like flextime and child- and family-friendly work spaces? In short, is the workplace overall equally welcome to men and to women?

In her special report today, The Spectator’s Joanna Frketich relates the story of Maureen MacDonald, McMaster University’s dean of science. When that job came open, MacDonald didn’t apply because the long hours would demand making her family a lower priority. When the provost of the day probed her reasons for not applying, he was concerned enough to set about changing the reality and perceptions around the job to make it more appealing and worth doing. She applied, got the job and the rest is history.

That anecdote is illustrative. To what extent might those conditions also be prohibitive at other public institutions? Have leaders asked those questions? It’s one thing to be open to gender equity, it’s quite another to actively pursue it and be willing to make changes in the process.

Here’s the most disturbing aspect of this story. It’s widely recognized that if situations like this exist in the public sector, the situation is much worse in the private sector. But in the absence of transparency tools like the Sunshine List, which Frketich used for this story, the private sector story is largely untold.

Amid the gloomy news, there is some hope. The provincial government passed legislation that will require more transparency around private-sector compensation. Where there are disparities, they will be exposed. That’s a start, at least.

Workplace gender equity isn’t just about doing the right thing or being fair. It’s also good business. The sooner society gets that, the better.

Amid the gloomy news, there is hope. The provincial government plans legislation that will require more transparency around private-sector compensation. Where there are disparities, they will be exposed.