One More Step
Last month, the final S&P 500 company without a female board member—Dallas-based used car seller, Copart—announced that it had hired Diane Morefield to its board of directors. This is great news. The S&P 500 represents the largest and most valuable companies in the US and hopefully this announcement will be followed by others from across the world in time. But while I applauded the announcement there was a part of me thinking, what took so long?
In 2016, a study by Deloitte reported that the issue of gender balance at board level was not a priority for GCC businesses. In 2017, female representation on boards in the GCC was still low at roughly 2%. Yet as far back as 2012, governments announced quotas to increase the number of women on boards—these messages are clearly struggling to take hold. The big question is why?
Even in Silicon Valley, in a country where women represent roughly 47% of the workforce, female founders of tech startups are still fighting for equality. According to a study released earlier this year by the Center for American Entrepreneurship, in 2017 just 2.5% of the nearly $83 billion invested in U.S. venture-backed startups was given to companies with all-female founders—and amongst the decision-makers in VC firms, only 9% were women.
The challenge for us then is how can we be advocates for change? It’s clear that it will not happen on its own—we need to keep momentum moving forward.
It’s undeniable that our lists are dominated by men. This is not by design—it’s a reflection of the markets we mirror. So, for our part, it remains vitally important to make an effort to champion the women that have defied stereotypes and faced-off challenges to reach the top; we need to tell their stories and share their journeys to ensure they are given a voice. And it remains vitally important to support the women who are still on that journey—still fighting, still hustling. This is what our August edition is all about.
Our lists this month are devoted to women. The female bosses heading up some of the most successful companies in the region, the women in charge of their sprawling family empires, and the fierce female entrepreneurs behind the region’s most iconic brands.
We spoke to two up-and-coming creative and determined Arab women: Honayda Serafi and Farah Al Asmar. Both showed incredible talent for design from a young age, but both admit to growing up feeling as though their dreams would never be realized. Spoiler alert: they didn’t take no for an answer. Read their stories to find out how they broke through.
At Forbes Middle East we will continue to champion women for as long as it takes, and I hope you enjoy reading about the Middle East’s businesswomen as much as we’ve enjoyed writing about them. But between you and me, as much I welcome you to our women’s issue, I look forward to the day we don’t need one.