‘Sport vital in fostering female leadership skills’
A KPMG survey into key female decision-makers in Irish business has found that 75 per cent of respondents have participated in sport at some level, with that number increasing to 90 per cent among female CEOs. In research conducted with the 30% Club, a global campaign to get better gender balance among all organisations, it was discovered that most Irish businesswomen felt that sport played a key part in their professional development. Ireland football manager
Vera Pauw was among those on hand as the results of the survey was released, along with Mary O’Connor, the chief executive of the Federation of Irish Sport, and Sinéad Aherne, fourtime All-Ireland winner with the Dublin footballers. The research uncovered some interesting insights into how women saw the relationship between sport and business with 88 per cent saying that skills learned through sport are transferable to the workplace. Teamwork (90 per cent), confidence (86 per cent) and selfbelief (63 per cent) were all highlighted as having been formed through sports activity. Meanwhile, 94 per cent of women in business would encourage a female relative to participate in sport while 45 per cent stated that they look to see if sport is included on a CV when hiring a new member of staff. And three in four women said that sport is useful for networking and business development. There were some areas of concern with the survey finding that only 19 per cent of the respondents were involved in volunteering or coaching at their local sports club. O’Connor pointed out that volunteering hasn’t been restored to pre-Covid levels and hoped it could be addressed going forward. ‘We have seen first-hand the impact that sport has on the lives of women in this country through our sponsorship of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open in 2022 and previous Women in Sport initiatives like the 20x20 campaign. We are thrilled to see how sport has influenced the careers of so many women in business, and we hope that those who see these results will be encouraged to participate in sport — regardless of standard or level - so that they, too, can advance their careers and reach their full potential,’ said Rio Howley, partner in KPMG. Melíosa O’Caoimh, Country Chair of the 30% Club added: ‘We welcome this new and interesting research which supports the importance of broader competency development for senior leadership, and which reinforces once again the value of inclusion and equal participation for boys and girls — in sport, education and ultimately into leadership roles.’