It is 2016, we have a gender-balanced cabinet, there is a 50 per cent chance the next President of the United States of America will be a woman and the recently appointed British Prime Minister is a woman. Yet we are still trying to convince the public that women on boards is just good business sense. In Canada, women only make up 20.8 per cent of corporate board positions at Canadian stock index companies. In the Calgary corporate sector, women hold 29 per cent of senior management positions, despite an even population of men and women. It seems that the rest of corporate Canada and Alberta is playing catch up when it comes to gender-equality.
Women in leadership positions and on boards helps organizations be more strategic and see higher returns on profit. Through multiple studies, researchers confirmed that boards with many women participating increase returns on invested capital by 26 per cent when compared to boards with few women. In addition, a higher representation of women on boards saw a 16 per cent higher return on sales. The numbers don’t lie and the reality is that all-male boards are bad for business.
To address the gender-equity issue on boards, Ontario took an important step towards gender-equity in leadership by being the first jurisdiction to adopt the “comply or explain” regulatory approach to increase the number of female directors. Alberta has yet to champion this approach. Women on boards cannot be seen as optional, it is necessary for the financial and long term success of a company. Representation is also critical for future generations of women, as the saying goes “What you can see, you can be.”
Despite the data, there are still too few women in leadership positions and we have yet to achieve equal pay. In Canada, women average 73.5 cents for every dollar men earn and it’s even worse if you’re indigenous and a visible minority women. Women are disproportionally responsible for unpaid work such as childcare, family and household duties which impact their hours and availability for paid employment. This means women are more likely to work in temporary, contract, part-time or unstable jobs. At the YWCA, we are proud to be a wage leader and ensure all members of our organization are compensated equally. We know that women are most likely to be low-wage earners despite the fact that more women in Canada have a post-secondary degree as compared to men.
Increasing the number of women in leadership positions is good business sense and when we create an environment where women can thrive, the community benefits. We are proud to advocate for gender-equality and pay equity at all levels in business and government to ensure women succeed and thrive in their communities.
