I have written several articles about diversity and inclusion, where I’ve touched on the benefits of D&I initiatives and three simple ways companies can make their C-suites more diverse. I briefly mentioned gender parity and stated that women should be well-represented throughout the organization — and the boardroom is the ideal place to start. So, let’s delve further into that.
According to the Harvard Business Review, when women are on executive-level boards, male CEOs tend to be less overconfident, and that’s a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with being self-assured, but when CEOs are overly confident, it can potentially lead to overinvestment and excessive risk-taking, the HBR report said. And that can be detrimental to shareholder value. Women, the reasoning goes, bring fresh perspectives to typically “pale, male and stale” boardrooms. They may help temper that overconfidence, which ultimately improves overall decision-making.
Making Progress … Slowly but Surely
It’s quite promising that, among the nearly 600 U.S. companies surveyed, the number of women in senior leadership has gradually increased. According to McKinsey and Company’s 2019 report, Women in the Workplace, the representation of women in the C-suite increased from 17 percent to 21 percent since 2015.
Also, 44 percent of U.S. companies now have three or more women in their C-suite, an uptick from 29 percent in 2015. However, women are still underrepresented at every level.
From the “Glass Ceiling” to the “Broken Rung”
While the “glass ceiling” has traditionally kept women from reaching top-level positions, the “broken rung” on the corporate ladder is actually a much bigger problem, according to McKinsey data. For example:
· For every 100 men promoted and hired to manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired.
· Men hold 62 percent of manager-level positions, while women hold just 38 percent.
· Because men outnumber women at the manager level, there are fewer women to hire or even promote to senior managers.
In essence, that first “broken rung” leads to more women being stuck in entry-level positions. But, if women were promoted and hired to first-level manager positions at the same rates as men, it would add one million more women to management in U.S. companies over the next five years, McKinsey said.
How to Achieve Gender Parity
So how can companies attract, hire and promote more women to senior-level positions? It actually starts much earlier in the talent pipeline. Companies must offer the opportunity for women to advance to management positions from the very beginning. That means providing the necessary experience, leadership training, sponsorships, high-profile assignments and other steppingstones to management.
But even before that, for accountability purposes, companies must set and publicize their gender diversity targets — and then share the results to see how they stack up.
Other recommendations from the global thinktank Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society include:
· Developing clear career paths for recruited women in the near and long terms (i.e., potential roles for promotion in the next 2-5 years)
· Providing transparency in compensation to identify salary gaps between men and women
· Offering unconscious bias training across the organization
· Externally recruiting women to fill C-suite positions when the internal talent pool is limited
Sure, gender parity is a lofty goal, but I believe it is attainable. And while progress has been slow-going, I am confident we will see even bigger gains in the near future.
Jeff Chaponick is CEO of MAC Diversity Recruiters, an international search firm that partners with companies of all sizes, including companies such as Deloitte, Nike, and Marsh & McLennan, to help them reach their diversity talent goals. Jeff is on the Board of Directors for the Texas Diversity Council and the National Diversity Council. He also is a member of various professional organizations that help address the disparities in hiring among traditionally underrepresented groups.
