Vancouver Sun

Women leading in life sciences sector

Females well represente­d in industry’s upper management, executive roles

- RANDYSHORE rshore@postmedia.com

Women are finding leadership roles in B.C.’s life sciences sector in greater numbers than other parts of the economy, according to a pair of new reports from Minerva B.C.

Women are particular­ly well represente­d in the upper management of life-science firms such as Zymeworks (43 per cent), LifeLabs (38 per cent) and Stemcell Technologi­es (43 per cent).

“Having women in senior leadership positions from the beginning, 25 years ago, is a key part of our success,” said Helen Sheridan, senior vice-president of human resources at Stemcell.

Stemcell’s board of advisers was mandated to be 50 per cent female by founder Allen Eaves, she said.

“Women have been attracted to life sciences and been successful there for a long time,” said Minerva CEO Tina Strehlke.

“Because some women are more attracted to the helping profession­s, they have a larger pool of female employees to begin with.”

In other sectors, Lululemon and First Quantum Minerals have created significan­t opportunit­ies for women to assume leadership roles in the past year.

The Face of Leadership is the third in a series of gender equity report cards produced by Minerva B.C., a non-profit organizati­on dedicated to values-based leadership and creating opportunit­ies for women and girls.

This year Minerva B.C. has also produced a companion report focused on B.C.’s tech sector, where more than half of the companies surveyed have not a single female executive.

About five per cent of Canadian tech companies have a female founder or CEO, and women make up only 13 per cent of the executive body.

That is a stark contrast to the makeup of their workforce at 48 per cent women.

As in the trades, women who work in the tech sector leave their jobs at double the rate of men, and “bro culture” may be part of the reason.

“They are opting out of the sector because some of these maledomina­ted industries may not be taking into account the needs of a more diverse workforce” said Strehlke.

It matters. Female executives set an example and create opportunit­ies for other women to succeed. Firms with female CEOs are twice as likely to have three or more women on their company’s board, the report notes.

In the tech sector, video game firms scored the lowest with just eight per cent female leaders, while media companies — such as FCV and Glacier Digital — scored the highest.

About one company in three has a gender-equity policy to guide hiring and promotion.

Generally, the giants of the sector, such as Bell Canada, Rogers and Shaw, have about 20 to 30 per cent female board members, but as few as 10 per cent female executives.

Since the Face of Leadership report first shone a light on the roles that women and Indigenous people play in B.C. corporate community in 2015, some B.C. firms have stepped up.

ICBC has increased the share of women on its board to 57 per cent, and female managers to 63 per cent.

At Lululemon, 60 per cent of executive managers are now women compared with the average of 17 per cent across the top 50 companies surveyed by Minerva.

Canfor, First Quantum Minerals and London Drugs also made significan­t steps, the report says.

Thirteen of B.C.’s top 50 companies have signed the Minerva B.C. Face of Leadership Diversity Pledge and, since 2015, the number of companies that have a diversity policy in place has doubled.

But as nice as that sounds, 82 per cent of companies still have no such policy.

There is still a long way to go. Indigenous representa­tion among senior executives and board members in the tech sector is essentiall­y zero. Three firms in Minerva’s top 50 have an Indigenous board member, two of whom are women: Goldcorp, B.C. Hydro and B.C. Ferry Corporatio­n.

 ??  ?? Tina Strehlke is the chief executive of Minerva B.C., a registered non-profit that aims for gender parity in workplaces.
Tina Strehlke is the chief executive of Minerva B.C., a registered non-profit that aims for gender parity in workplaces.

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