Three efforts could kick-start progress to get more women in leadership positions. The case for gender diversity is compelling, but McKinsey research—including a new report, Women Matter 2016: Reinventing the workplace to unlock the potential of gender diversity—shows many companies are struggling to ensure women are represented fairly in top management. Progress toward parity remains slow. In Western Europe, only 17 percent of executive-committee members are women, and women comprise just 32 percent of members of corporate boards for companies listed in Western Europe’s major market indexes (exhibit). In the United States, the figures are 17 percent for executive committees and just under 19 percent for boards. Would you like to learn more about our Organization Practice?
European women work more part-time and more unpaid hours than men. Our new study found a correlation between the representation of women in leadership positions and women’s employment rate, as well as their hours of unpaid work. Increasing the number of women in top management requires tackling these two inequalities. Governments have a strong role to play in addressing this issue and creating the conditions for equal opportunities. But companies also have to do their part. To better understand what companies do, and what they could do further, in 2016, we surveyed 233 companies and 2,200 employees in nine European countries.1 Analysis showed that while the vast majority of companies have introduced measures to increase gender diversity at the top, many have yet to see significant results. Among our findings:
Previously, we outlined a comprehensive gender-diversity ecosystem that companies can put in place to increase women’s representation at each level of the organization. Building on this, our 2016 research shows that three game-changers distinguish best-in-class companies:
We believe it will take government and business-led interventions to create an environment that offers women better opportunities; enables them to train for and work in skilled, better-paying roles; reshapes social norms and attitudes; and supports work–life balance. To achieve this, companies will need to transform themselves by reevaluating their traditional performance models and by challenging the long-term viability of their prevailing leadership styles. About the author(s) Sandrine Devillard and Sandra Sancier-Sultan are senior partners in McKinsey’s Paris office, where Alix de Zelicourt is a consultant and Cecile Kossoff is the director of knowledge dissemination and communications.
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Editor's Note: Kathy Carter has played soccer since childhood, including for the College of William and Mary. She was a founding member of Major League Soccer in 1996 and served as vice president of corporate marketing for MLS for six years. She has also been the US representative on FIFA's Committee for Women's Football and the FIFA Women's World Cup. Carter was most recently the president of Soccer United Marketing, where she managed the business operations for MLS' commercial subsidiary. The views expressed here are solely the author's.
(CNN)-Since the first day I walked onto the soccer field, when I was 7 years old, I have been questioned and doubted. I was asked: Do you have what it takes to play this sport? Are you tall enough to be a goalkeeper? Are you quick enough? Is your skin thick enough for you to take a loss and bounce back stronger? At every stage, I heard questions -- some spoken aloud, some whispered -- about me, my talent, my body, my character. This line of questioning starts at a young age for girls. Unfortunately, it doesn't end when we leave the soccer field, or as we become adults. Just the opposite, in fact. For women, it becomes our norm as we enter the workplace. Soccer gave me the confidence to work through the added pressure, prove the doubters wrong, and resolve to clear a smoother path for future generations of women. I was fortunate to have played for supportive coaches and with tremendous teammates. Not every young woman is so lucky. My dad was one of my first coaches; he did this job with a "how to" book in his hands and baseball cleats on his feet. In high school, I was named an All-American, and I went on to start for a nationally ranked team at the College of William and Mary. When I was finishing my final college season in 1990, there was no professional pathway for female players in the United States. No pro leagues to join, no National Women's Soccer League to aspire to, and no post-collegiate female players to look up to. So I continued to play in amateur adult leagues. My career as a soccer player came to an end not because I wanted it to, but because there was no option for women to make a career out of playing the best sport in the world here at home. I didn't always know my future was in soccer, but what I did know was that I loved the game. Then, good fortune struck when a friend from an opposing team introduced me to members of the 1994 World Cup Organizing Committee and I was given a shot to make the game my profession. I've never looked back. I'm very proud of my playing career and my career as an executive in the game. But I have news for anyone reading this: The doubting questions have never stopped. As I made the transition from player to executive, the questions just changed. Would men take a woman as president of US Soccer seriously? Would people listen to her? Could she lead such a large and high-stakes organization? I've answered these questions in business and plan to do so in a new role: I am now running for another leadership position in soccer, that of president of the US Soccer Federation. Before I began this effort, my journey was, like most people's, outside the glaring lights. Now that I'm in the race, even though I bring both soccer and relevant business experience to the table, questions abound. Does she have enough soccer experience? Is her business experience the right kind? Is she her own person? Has she done enough as a woman in the game? In the international soccer community, out of FIFA's 211 member associations, there are only a few female leaders. In the United States, there are several women serving as leaders of their respective sports, but it is not nearly enough. Kids dream of representing our country on the global stage as players, coaches, referees, executives or administrators. I want to show them, especially young girls, that any of these options are within their grasp. If elected, I'll be the first female president of US Soccer, but I'll fight for all the things any good leader wants, confronting challenges, such as rebounding from the failure of our men's national team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and remedying our confusing youth soccer landscape. I'm optimistic about the future because the American soccer community is talented, committed and ready to deeply assess what's wrong and work together -- plus our women's national team is heading to France in 2019 to defend our world championship. It is a time of change and we must focus on unity and collaboration to drive progress. This work starts with changing the federation's culture, prioritizing improvements in youth soccer, growing the adult game, building a new technical department to support all our national teams, and going all-in on the women's game. I know the doubts I've faced throughout my career are faced by many women -- most women. I know because a lot of them tell me. Like them, I have responded the only way I know how: I've worked harder to be more prepared, to see every angle, to avoid every error possible. I've learned through successes and yes, sometimes through failures, the importance of listening, working constructively, setting ambitious goals, and helping everyone succeed together. Inside me is still the 5-foot-5 goalkeeper about whom no one ever said at first glance, "Wow, she's going to be great." I had to earn everything I got and I am extremely proud of that. I'm also proud of the female teammates I've had in business, another lesson from the game. Throughout my career, I've mentored, supported and counseled hundreds of young women building their own careers in sports. Today, these women are part of a growing network of successful women who are rising through the ranks of professional sports leagues, front offices, sports apparel companies, TV networks and sports marketing agencies. And, I have benefited from their wisdom, support, hard work and professionalism. Among the things that excite me most about the possibility of leading US Soccer is the opportunity to address diversity and equality head on. I want treatment of our girls and women to be equal across the sport and from top to bottom -- from pay to training staff to field conditions and beyond. I want to take all that I've learned from my own experiences and from these female teammates and use it to invest in helping all our national teams continue to inspire the country and the world. I want generations of young girls and boys to have soccer -- and the lessons from soccer -- running through their veins.
A new law enforcing equal pay between genders came into effect on January 1, 2018, according to Al Jazeera. Under the legislation, firms that employ more than 25 people are obliged to obtain a government certificate demonstrating pay equality, or they will face fines. The law was announced on March 8 on International Women's Day 2017 as part of a drive by the nation to eradicate the gender pay gap by 2022. Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, told Al Jazeera: "The legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations ... evaluate every job that's being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally." She added: "It's a mechanism to ensure women and men are being paid equally. "We have had legislation saying that pay should be equal for men and women for decades now but we still have a pay gap." The Nordic country, home to more than 323,000 people, has been ranked the best in the world for gender equality by the World Economic Forum for nine years in a row. The Global Gender Gap Report evaluates gender equality in a country using indicators including economic opportunity, political empowerment, and health and survival. The new legislation was supported by Iceland's centre-right coalition government, as well as the opposition - nearly 50 per cent of the lawmakers in parliament are women. Ms Aradottir Pind added: "I think that now people are starting to realise that this is a systematic problem that we have to tackle with new methods. "Women have been talking about this for decades and I really feel that we have managed to raise awareness, and we have managed to get to the point that people realise that the legislation we have had in place is not working, and we need to do something more." The UK reported a 16.9% pay gap between men and women in 2017. The task force presented these abridged results to President Salovey in November of 2017 and will be presenting to the general public at the Yale Club of New York City on February 21st along with a discussion with Elizabeth Alexander '84, Renowed poet, author and former chair of Yale's African American Studies Department.
The Swiss bank will launch a Global Gender Equality exchange-traded fund (ETF) which invests in the Solactive Equileap Global Gender Equality 100 Leaders index, a new index of 100 firms which best promote gender equality internationally. The fund launched amid renewed global interest in the gender pay gap, which stood at 9.4% for full-time employees in the UK in 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics. On 1 January, Iceland became the first country to introduce legislation requiring employers to prove they offer equal pay regardless of factors including gender. On Sunday, BBC China editor Carrie Gracie resigned after learning her male peers were earning up to 50% more than her. Research has also linked gender diversity to better stock returns. A recent note from UBS Wealth Management analysed profitability metrics for companies in the FTSE Developed World Index, and found companies with higher-than-average proportions of women on the board had higher returns than less gender-diverse peers. The index also tracks 18 other diversity criteria, including equal compensation, work-life balance, transparency and accountability. The ETF is a joint collaboration between UBS Asset Management and UBS Wealth Management. Rachel Whittaker, sustainable investing strategist at UBS Wealth Management's chief investment office said: "Our research indicates that gender-diverse companies tend to outperform on various profitability measures. "We believe these findings support approaches to gender lens investing that take into account diversity at all levels of the organization as well as in leadership positions." |
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