WOMEN: WHEREFORE ART THOU?
I am not a great fan of International Days of this and that. Of women; of children; of chocolate; of water; of salt (but that was an interesting press release). But I guess the upside is that it does give society a chance to think about the topic du jour.
And on International Women's Day 2018 in February Grant Thornton International took the opportunity to release its annual
Women in Business report which showed that New Zealand was badly lagging in the number of women in leadership roles.
Globally more businesses surveyed (75 percent in 2018 versus 66 percent in 2017) now have at least one woman on their senior management teams, however the proportion of the team that is female has slipped to 24 percent from 25 percent.
However in New Zealand, the proportion of women in senior management roles hit a new low of 18 percent compared with 20 percent in 2017 and 31 percent in 2004.
“What is more discouraging is the marked increase in the number of businesses with no women in senior management roles at 56 percent, compared to 37 percent last year,” says Grant Thornton in a media release.
As they say, with the “compelling evidence of the link between gender diversity in leadership and commercial success” you would have to wonder what is going on.
It is very puzzling and concerning and I imagine it's something New Zealand's leaders will want to address with speed and decisiveness.
This issue we also look into diversity and inclusion in the workplace for members of the Rainbow community. It's gaining some momentum, but there is still plenty to be done to ensure New Zealand's business sector really is embracing diversity across more than gender, age and ethnicity. We canvas what some major businesses are doing on page 6.
We also have IMNZ's Jane McCarroll discussing the move by Perpetual Guardian to offer staff a four-day working week while being paid for five days. As she says, the CVs are pouring in (page 18). It's something we will be looking at further in coming issues.
Have a good month.