Gender diversity

Gender diversity is how different genders are represented in a relevant setting. Primarily this term is often used to refer to females and males, though in some contexts and research the term may also refer to those who fall into non-binary categories of gender.[1]

The issue of gender representation on corporate boards of directors is one area where a need for greater gender diversity has been promoted.[2][3][4] Employment in certain fields traditionally dominated by men, including computing, engineering, medicine, and women in science are other areas of study and interest.[5]

Benefits of gender diversity

Achieving gender diversity within organizations is not easy and takes a lot of efforts and time, but brings multiple benefits to companies, leading to increased long term profits.

The most important benefits are:

Increased financial performance

As diversity within workforce in companies is reaching higher percentages, studies have shown that higher diversity is expected to bring higher returns. Indeed, diversity can now be seen as a sort of “competitive differentiator” that brings about a shift in the market share of a company towards more diverse ones as time passes by. Specifically speaking, thanks to McKinsey’s examinations, it was found that companies that allow for gender diversity within the workplace are 15 percent more prone to experience higher financial returns as compared to the national industry medians.

Moreover, a study conducted by the University of British Columbia demonstrates that women on boards help companies to conclude better M&A deals, reducing their costs by 15,4%.[6][7]

Attraction and Retention of Diversity-Sensible Talents

With a value proposition that promotes gender diversity, companies are more likely to attract talented people that are sensible to the problem and take into consideration gender equality policies when considering different employers.[8]

Better reputation

Gender diversity in the company leads to improved reputation both directly and indirectly. Directly because it’s demonstrated that companies with a higher percentage of women board directors are favorably viewed in sectors that operate close to the final customers and are more likely to be on Ethisphere Institute’s list of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies.

Indirectly because first of all women directors seems to be tougher monitors then men directors and are less likely to commit fraud. Moreover, gender diversity policies seem also to be correlated with increased CSR.[9]

Wider customer base

Since men and women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, a gender-diverse workforce enables better problem solving.

Furthermore, a study done in 2014 by Gallup finds that hiring a gender-diverse workforce allows the company to serve an increasingly diverse customer base. This happens because a gender-diverse workforce eases the process of accessing resources, such as multiple sources of information or credit, and industry knowledge.[10]

Improved decision making processes

Gender diversity in boards equals diversity of thoughts: women bring different perspectives and approach issues differently, leading to improved decision making processes[11]

New Skills and Management styles

As also found in a recent survey done by RSA, women are considered to ‘’bring empathy and intuition to leadership”, since they have greater awareness of the motivations and concerns of other people. As a matter of facts, 62 per cent of the respondents of the survey stated that women contribute differently in the boardroom, compared to their male colleagues.

A similar proportion saw women as more empathetic, with a better insight into how decisions play out in the wider organisation.” When it came to communications and effective collaboration, “over half felt that women were better”.[12][13]

Measuring gender diversity

In the film industry

GenderGap in IMDb

The analysis of The Internet Movie Database (IMDb, 2005 data dump) shows how wide the gender gap is in the film industry, especially for the most prestigious types of jobs. There are nearly twice as many actors as actresses in IMDB. Prestigious jobs such as composer, cinematographer, director are respectively 88%, 76%, 86% male-dominated.[14]

In the boardroom

Female Chairs

Between Spring 2014 and Spring 2015 there was an increase in the number of female Chairs within the FTSE 100 reports.

Spring 2014 saw 1 Female chair in the FTSE, this increased to 3 by Spring 2015.

Female Chief Executive Officers

The number of Female CEO’s with the FTSE 100 also rose between 2014 and 2015 also increased.

In Spring 2014 the report showed there were 4 female CEOs in the FTSE 100, this increase to 5 by Spring 2015.

Female Chief Financial Officers

Female CFO’s in the FTSE 100 saw the highest increase.

In Spring 2014 there were 8 female CFO’s in the FTSE 100, this rose to 12 by Spring 2015.

Although rather than 100 companies, this figure was out of 99 due to one company not having the position filled.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sharon E. Sytsma (2 February 2006). Ethics and Intersex. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-1-4020-4313-0.
  2. ↑ Taylor, Kate (26 June 2012). The New Case for Women on Corporate Boards: New Perspectives, Increased Profits, Forbes
  3. ↑ Campbell, Kevin & Antonio Minquez-Vera. Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Financial Performance, Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 83:435-451
  4. ↑ Clark, Nicola (27 January 2012). Getting Women Into Boardrooms, by Law, The New York Times
  5. ↑ Blickenstaff, Jacob Clark. "Women and science careers: leaky pipeline or gender filter?". Gender and Education. 17 (4): 369–386. doi:10.1080/09540250500145072.
  6. ↑ Hunt, Layton, Prince (January 2015). "Why diversity matters.". McKinsey.
  7. ↑ Kai Li (December 2013). "Women directors get better deals in mergers and acquisitions". UBC Sauder.
  8. ↑ "Gender Diversity in Management: targeting untapped talent". Australian Institute of Management. 2012.
  9. ↑ "Why diversity matters". Catalyst Information Center. 2013.
  10. ↑ S. B. Badal (2014). "The business Benefits of Gender Diversity". Gallup Business Journal.
  11. ↑ A. A. Dhir (2015). "Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Corporate Law, Governance, and Diversity.". Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.
  12. ↑ D. Medland (2012). "Women and the Workplace: The benefits of gender diversity put to the test". Financial Times. N.p.,.
  13. ↑ "Gender, Diversity, Leadership & Communication in Organizations.". Juan F Ramirez Ferrer. 2015.
  14. ↑ NCYW (May 2014). GendRE & IMDb: An Open Data Analysis of The Film Industry Gender Gap, http://nocountryforyoungwomen.com/
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