Although authoritarianism seems to be gaining popular precedence over democracy in many parts of the world, there are encouraging signs that other aspects of egalitarian philosophy are achieving more widespread approval. In particular, the importance of the role of women in society is gaining increasing recognition. Some developments are quite dramatic: who would have thought it possible that women might soon be allowed to drive cars in Saudi Arabia? How could it be, that Iran might be seriously considering allowing women to watch football matches?
Surprisingly, however, women do already engage in economic activity in both these countries, and some even hold senior managerial positions. Meanwhile, in most of the rest of the world, women's role in business is definitely progressing. The day may come when half of the world's population might hold half of the seniormost positions, although there is still some way to go for that to be achieved, even in the most progressive countries.
One of the leading monitors of women's progress in the world of work, the Grant Thornton annual survey, published its latest survey, entitled “Women in Business, beyond policy to progress” on March 8, 2018, appropriately enough on International Women's Day.
The main findings of this important report are summarised below (full report available on https://www.grantthornton.global/globalassets/1.-member-firms/global/insights/women-in-business/grant-thornton-women-in-business-2018-report.pdf)
Key global findings
According to the worldwide survey results, 75% of businesses have at least one woman in senior management (2017: 66%), while 24% of senior roles are held by women (2017: 25%). The three top gender policies and practices that businesses have in place were identified as: equal pay for men and women performing the same roles (81%); non-discrimination on policies for recruitment (71%); paid parental leave (59%). The top drivers for businesses to introduce gender equality policies and practices were identified as: attract and keep employees (65%); live up to organisational values (65%); enhance company performance (55%). The main barriers that prevent gender equality policies and practices being introduced were identified as: complexity in translating good intentions into practice (22%); stereotypes about gender role (21%); and lack of evidence of positive impact on company performance (16%).
Geographical variation in gender equality performance
There is quite a variation in equality performance among world regions. The Asia Pacific generally rates well, but not best, partly owing to Japan's poor performance in gender equality.
Policy implementation
The greatest success in promoting gender equality worldwide has been in equal pay for men and women performing the same roles (81%) along with non-discriminatory recruitment policies (71%). Recognising women's roles in parental and child-care, is vitally important. Women should be able to take time off in mid-career for such duties. For this to be possible, policies are provided for paid parental leave (59%), flexible working hours (57%), part-time work (54%), and remote working opportunities (40%). Much less in evidence is subsidised childcare (20%), although in the more progressive economies, the state may totally or partially take over childcare responsibilities by providing publicly available childcare facilities.
There are also some important policy devices to promote gender equality in the workplace. These include practices for publication of data on gender diversity (20%), senior management pay linked to progress on gender diversity (17%), and use of quotas to achieve a better gender balance in the workforce (15%).
Making gender equality an inclusive reality
It is one thing to boost the proportions of women in top and senior management, and another to make the process an operational reality. At the present stage, there is often hesitation, reluctance, and adoption of gender equality simply to make the company look good, rather than commitment to a belief that gender equality will make the company more effective, whether in corporate harmony, efficiency or profitability.
The reasons for adopting gender equality policies are stated to be attracting and keeping employees (65%), living up to organisational values (65%), complying with government legislation (51%), vision of company leadership (47%), and meeting the expectations of wider society (42%). However there is also a view that such gender equality may enhance company performance (55%).
Barriers preventing equality policies and practices
Many business leaders insist that there are no barriers to gender equality in their organisations. However, evidence suggests that this is either a defensive denial of what is known to exist, or else an unconscious lack of awareness of subconscious prejudices, or stereotypes about women's role in society or industry. Many business leaders believe that there are no barriers against women achieving senior management positions (37%). Other barriers include complexity in translating good intentions into practice (32%); stereotypes about gender roles (21%); lack of evidence of positive impact on company performance (16%); cost of implementation (16%); and business culture unsupportive of diversity (15%).
Governmental compulsion versus voluntary initiatives
Business opinion is divided on whether government compulsion is desirable to enforce gender equality in economic activity. While a majority (53%) of business favours a voluntary approach, a substantial minority (40%) perceives that some form of government intervention is necessary.
Many business leaders believe that business and government need to work in collaboration (42%). However many leaders believe that gender equality is primarily an issue that business needs to solve by itself (32%).
Some business leaders feel that there is no need to do anything more to address these issues (14%). Only a few business people feel that the whole issue should be left to government to solve (9%).
Recommendations for action
As a result of the survey findings, Grant Thornton makes ten recommendations for business leaders, as follows:
1. champion the cause: demonstrating commitment is essential for success;
2. make diversity and inclusion a core value: the whole organisation needs to sign up for diversity and inclusion;
3. set goals: clear targets should be set and achieved;
4. link progress to pay: what gets measured gets managed;
5. avoid tokenism: make real commitments, not symbolic gestures;
6. recruit diversity not clones: have courage to recruit diversity, not copies of oneself;
7. introduce sponsorship: find, nurture and train female talent;
8. investigate the benefits: prove gender diversity benefits by researching results;
9. be comfortable with discomfort: recognise challenges but commit to long-term benefits of gender diversity;
10. share your story: be transparent about successes and challenges in implementing gender equality and diversity.
Christopher F. Bruton is Executive Director of Dataconsult Ltd, chris@dataconsult.co.th. Dataconsult's Thailand Regional Forum provides seminars and extensive documentation to update business on future trends in Thailand and in the Mekong Region.