W2O the global communications firm, one of the Gender Parity Collaborative member companies, released a timely and informative study The Role of Gender Diversity in Corporate Relevance earlier this summer. The Collaborative is appreciative that W2O not only published the report but has shared the research with our key stakeholder audiences.
A short summary of the report follows but viewers are encouraged to read the report in its entirety and share with your networks.
The report’s introduction echoes what the HBA has been advocating for years that “…study after study shows that organizations pursuing gender parity and diversity will reap the benefits of increased revenue, decreased costs and maximized profits, as well as more effective employee recruitment, improved retention and an enhanced corporate image.”
However, in practice the data tell a different story that as women ascend the corporate ladder, they are stopped short when they reach the senior vice president level—holding only 20 percent of roles that are most likely to lead to the C-suite. An even more dismal reality reveals that only five percent of the top CEO roles at Fortune 500 companies are held by women.
The report points out that the healthcare industry “is not immune to these challenges of inequality” with senior female executives representing only 17 percent of company management teams at the top 20 bio pharma and med tech companies.
So what’s the solution? What needs to be done to accelerate change? Accountability, transparency and a bipartisan approach are the three themes the report suggests to help propel change beyond today’s “snail’s pace” which “should be unacceptable to us all.”
Read the descriptions and the full report here.