Collaboration is the key to drive gender equality in the workplace
“We have a very robust plan around what we’re trying to do around gender equity"
Mairi McInnes of PwC tells Emma Newlands that she sees collaboration as a key lever to accelerate progress as the Big Four accountancy firm marked this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) in March by highlighting relevant statistics from its Global Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 that took the temperature of about 54,000 workers across 46 countries
Among the titles Mairi McInnes holds at professional services giant PwC include place and purpose lead for its Scottish operations, something she deems a privilege and passion of hers.
And she is also a licence holder of TEDx that enables people to host talks that “spark conversations in their communities”.
She says: “The major thing that TEDx taught me was the value in bringing together all walks of life – the whole foundation of TEDx is to give a platform to voices that don't otherwise have one. And I think that is very, very important as we look at both gender inclusion and social mobility.”
Indeed, one TEDx presentation McInnes spearheaded was focused on “how do we, as women, show up for ourselves and for others in our lives, which was really empowering”.
PwC in February released its latest Women in Work Index, showing that Scotland secured the top spot among the UK’s nations and regions, thanks to an overall rise of 3.1 points, largely driven by an increase in the female labour force participation rate to 74.9 per cent in 2022 from 73.2 per cent in 2021.
“There's a lot of messages for us to take caution and action, in terms of how we respond to some of the things which the index revealed to us,” she says. “But from a Scottish perspective, it’s certainly very encouraging.”
PwC additionally found that Scotland recorded the lowest gap in participation rates between men and women across the UK as of 2022, at 4.4 per cent, which McInnes opines is “hopefully a great testament to” some of the relevant efforts and initiatives by her employer.
“We have a very robust plan around what we're trying to do around gender equity. And we take that very seriously,” she says.
The Big Four accountancy firm marked this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) in March by highlighting relevant statistics from its Global Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 that took the temperature of about 54,000 workers across 46 countries. That includes women reporting higher levels of inclusive decision making (+3 points), for example, than in the previous year.
McInnes herself spent this year’s IWD at an event with parties including Scottish Financial Enterprise, and shared her story alongside other key women in business.
She believes in bringing together government, notfor-profit organisations, the third sector, and business to address common issues and goals, “and really drive the energy required to effect change”. Such opportunities to do so on gender “are better than they've ever been – and that is really exciting for Scotland”.
Relevant initiatives in Scotland include Egg, billed as the largest platform north of the Border connecting, supporting, and celebrating women, rolling out roadshows on female entrepreneurship as a result of the independent review Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship by Ana Stewart that was commissioned by the Scottish Government.
Furthermore, Edinburghbased Equity Gap was recently named Scotland's most frequent backer of female-owned firms, while Napier University and Women's Enterprise Scotland have just teamed up for a new initiative aimed at “nurturing the next generation of women leaders and innovators”. McInnes has been with PwC since 2008 and her current role also includes serving as the lead clients and industry director for the group's global private equity, real assets, and sovereign investment funds industry. She returned to her native Scotland in 2021 after several years working in Asia.
“My life is all the richer for that experience.”
She cites the importance of continuing to tackle the issues behind pay penalties, and openly discussing key relevant issues such as the menopause with male allies on board.
“It's got to be something that we do united, because it's about us as a shared workforce.”
Both McInnes and PwC see that there is still much to be done on driving gender equality at work, and much data on the issue is sobering, such as the firm calculating that if women no longer faced a gender pay penalty, their collective pay packets could be up to £55 billion bigger every year across the UK.
“I think it’s sobering – but also exciting, because I do genuinely think that we should be almost fairly unapologetic about the business and economic benefits of this,” she says. “We should do it because it's the right thing to do. But we should do it also because it's good for business, and it's good for the economy.
“I think Scotland now has a phenomenal opportunity, because of its position across the regions to stay ahead… I think it is important for Scotland to challenge itself and use that as a platform.”