Recent data from EY & The Peterson Institute for International Economics reveals that companies in just five countries have at least 30% senior women executives, with only Norway exceeding the 30% mark for women on company boards.
The research also shows that companies with at least 30% women in leadership can achieve up to a 6 percentage point increase in net margin.
The research finds no evidence that, by itself, having a female CEO is related to increased profitability, but there is some evidence that having women on a board may help and a robust evidence that women in the C-level (as in CEO, CFO and COO of management) is associated with higher profitability.
Uschi Schreiber, EY’s Global Vice Chair – Markets and Chair of Global Accounts Committee, says: “The current direction and state of gender parity and diversity across all levels of business needs to be changed. At a time where business and government face unprecedented challenges due to technology and disruption, having diverse leadership and management is a necessary and critical tool to survive today. We need our best talent from all areas to bring additional perspectives to complex decision making – now more than ever.”
Bulgaria, Latvia and Philippines top the ranking in gender parity among company leading teams
Bulgaria (37%), Latvia (36%), Philippines (33%), Slovenia (33%) and Romania (32%) have made the most progress toward gender parity in business with the percentage of female executives. For having the most women-on-boards, the top five countries are Norway (40%), Latvia (25%), Italy (24%), Finland (23%) and Bulgaria (22%).
While gender parity in business varies widely across the globe, most countries are still far below the 30% threshold for women CEOs, women on boards and women executives, with the world’s largest economies (United States, China and Japan) not reaching the top 10 for any category.
Largest global study of its kind, the research focused on data from almost 22,000 publicly traded firms across 91 countries.
Mark A. Weinberger, EY’s Global Chairman & CEO, says: “Companies that advance women into leadership roles are going to have the upper hand, with more engaged workforces, stronger cultures and improved economic performance. We know that gender-balanced companies achieve better results. As business leaders we need to ask ourselves: Have we made enough progress? Are we helping enough women find their way into leadership roles in order to make our businesses better?”
Image over the headline.- © EY photo.
Related external links:
Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Survey
