How to get more women to the top of Canada’s corporate ranks
YOU HAVE TO HAVE WOMEN ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE PIPELINE. BY THE TIME IT COMES TO TWO OR THREE LEVELS DOWN FROM THE CEO, THERE AREN’T MANY WOMEN THERE.
— CAROL HANSELL, SENIOR PARTNER AT HANSELL LLP
The number of women holding executive positions in Canada has been slowly climbing since 2016, but the rise has been anything but dramatic.
In 2020, women made up a little under a third, or 31.4 per cent, of officer positions, up from 29 per cent four years earlier, according to the latest data available from Statistics Canada. The majority of boards across Canada are still comprised solely of men, with education the only sector to have achieved gender parity on its boards.
But despite those numbers, some female business leaders say Canada is still making strides, especially when it comes to attitudes and opportunities.
“At the board level there’s been quite a lot of progress,” said Carol Hansell, a senior partner at Hansell LLP, a firm that advises boards, management and shareholders on legal and governance issues. “The attitude towards women on boards has changed radically over the past 10 years.”
Hansell said boards were once skeptical and even reluctant to push for more women in executive positions. But now there’s widespread agreement that having the most talented people on a board means not neglecting half the population.
Data collected by Hansell’s firm points to progress. Close to 28 per cent of board seats in 2023 were taken up by females at TSX companies that reported numbers to meet Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) diversity disclosure requirements, an increase from 21.6 per cent in 2020.
But Hansell said boards still don’t do enough to push companies to foster a broad range of talent with the ability to move up the ranks. “You have to have women all the way through the pipeline,” she said. “By the time it comes to two or three levels down from the CEO, there aren’t many women there.”
When it comes to getting promotions, the gap between the sexes widens the higher up the corporate ladder you go, according to a 2023 study by Mckinsey & Co. and Leanin.org. Research shows a multitude of reasons for that widening gap, including pay inequality, differential attitudes toward women, a lack of mentorship and because some women feel they haven’t earned a promotion in the first place.
Andrea Limbardi, chief executive of Reitmans Canada Ltd., regards impostor syndrome as one of the greatest challenges facing women in business today. A self-described “lifetime retailer," she often has conversations with women at all levels of business who say they feel like frauds. “It’s almost shocking the amount of time I spend saying ‘If everyone else believes this in you, why don’t you believe this in yourself ?’ ” Limbardi said.
Part of tackling impostor syndrome is asking women to identify the unachievable standards they’ve set for themselves and then let them go. She also suggests they surround themselves with a group of honest people who will push them. “It’s not just that they’re going to cheerlead you, that’s not enough. Women are smarter than that,” Limbardi said. “They don’t just need someone who’ll say ‘you go girl.’ ”
At the same time, mentorship is also key and sometimes supportive individuals are better than a formalized program. As an example, Limbardi points to the guidance she received from Tina Fagan-shane when they worked together at Indigo Books & Music Inc. Faganshane included Limbardi in all aspects of the business, from participating in conference calls to accompanying her on operations visits, an experience that played a critical role in her development. “I’ve probably learned more from that experience than any of the formal mentorship programs I’ve done over the years, which are countless,” she said.
Meanwhile, women rising through the ranks should also know there’s no right way to be a leader. Limbardi said that’s something she learned the hard way as she climbed the corporate ladder. “I went in with this idea that I had to be this quote-unquote ‘leader,’ ” she said. “That I had to come in with ... all the answers, to know what I was talking about and feeling like I had to prove myself, only to realize how exhausting that is.”
Over time — and guided by a mentor — she began working in a way that was more true to her authentic self. “I instead viewed leadership as being in service of others, helping remove obstacles, being a sounding board and helping others reach their potential.”
Building authentic relationships is something Hansell also encourages women to pursue. “The ability to work well in groups is an important skill, particularly at the board level,” she said. “I often see people begin their careers as corporate directors and they don’t really understand how to come together.”
Hansell recommends finding ways to establish bilateral relationships to really get to know other people. “You need to understand how people express themselves, not just what they’re saying.”
Of course, getting more females into leadership shouldn’t fall solely on the shoulders of women themselves. Progress must be accelerated by regulating, supporting and incentivizing companies to promote them, the Organization for Economic Development said in its 2020 report, Policies and Practices to Promote Women in Leadership Roles in the Private Sector.
Both Limbardi and Hansell agree more work needs to be done so women leaders reach parity with men. Organizations must keep revealing how many females hold positions at every level, Hansell said, to keep pressure on boards so the shift in attitudes over the value of women executives translates into real progress.
“I think we’re moving along well, but we can’t take our eye off it,” Hansell said.