Gender equality in boardrooms is long way off

Gap in Canada won’t close for 51 years, Tina Strehlke writes.

In the age of #MeToo and society’s renewed focus on gender equality, one might presume that we are inches away from completely closing the gap between men and women.

If this were true, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, likely wouldn’t have committed $1 billion over the next decade to promote gender equality, as she did earlier this month.

Minerva B.C.’s annual Face of Leadership Scorecard released this week suggests that many organizations are making some progress with respect to gender equality. But any assumption that society is a few small steps away from closing the gap is false.

Refusing to acknowledge progress made would be an equally inaccurate and unhelpful point of view.

The gender wage gap has decreased by 21 per cent in Canada since 1981.

In addition to increased earnings, women who have historically been vastly under-represented at leadership levels within organizations are starting to take their place.

Women held 17 per cent of board seats in Canada in 2019, whereas that number was 11 per cent only four years ago.

The 2019 Face of Leadership Report shows similarly modest yet encouraging progress in British Columbia.

Thirty-one per cent of board positions among the top 50 companies in B.C. by revenue were held by women, an increase of nine per cent year-over-year.

Women in senior leadership positions is also trending the right way: 20 per cent of senior executive managers in 2019 versus 17 per cent in 2018. Companies like HSBC Canada, B.C. Housing Management Commission and Lululemon have C-suites with at least 50 per cent women.

Despite women taking over more senior leadership roles, momentum in some cases has slowed considerably.

Statistics like 31 and 20 per cent representation might be cause for widespread celebration, if women represented 31 or 20 per cent of the population — last I checked, this was not the case.

Despite women taking over more senior leadership roles, momentum in some cases has slowed considerably and is at risk of stalling.

A 2018 World Economic Forum Report predicted that it will take 51 years for Canada to close its gender gap. Although Canada fares comparatively well on this front, 51 years is about twice the amount of time it will take European nations like France and Iceland.

So how then do organizations and society accelerate the pace of change?

A fairly obvious but underutilized approach is to set clear goals. Over 30 CEOs have signed the Minerva Face of Leadership Pledge, committing to advancing gender parity within their leadership teams. Nearly all companies that made the most progress from the 2018 to 2019 scorecards were signatories of this pledge.

It is also vital for private and public sector organizations to promote leadership development and training. This is especially true for young women and emerging leaders, for whom training helps build confidence and makes attaining a leadership role a tangible reality.

There is also a necessity to explore the effect of gender-based quotas as a means to reduce the gender gap in corporate leadership.

Although seen as contentious for a variety of reasons, countries like Germany, India and Italy have introduced such quotas in the past 10 years with positive results. Italy, for example, increased the instances of women directorships from 3.6 to 35.8 per cent in just seven years.

As is so often in life, two concurrent realities can be equally true.

B.C., Canada and the world are making improvements with respect to gender equality.

At the same time, we must not take our foot off the gas pedal, as the positive momentum built over recent decades will not continue without sustained efforts.

And since Melinda Gates will likely not be donating $1 billion in Canada anytime soon, it’s up to businesses, non-profit and governmental organizations to do the work.

But maybe most importantly, it’s up to all of us.