New Insights: Global Gender Equality and Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards

Written by Heather Burke Wednesday, January 18 2012

Catalyst, a research and advocacy organization for women in the workplace, has shown in past studies that gender-inclusive leadership is a key driver for financial performance. A new joint-study released by Catalyst and Harvard Business School reveals a positive correlation between gender-diverse leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The report, Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It’s a Matter of Sustainability, shows that companies who promote greater gender diversity at top leadership levels notably increase the breadth and quality of their CSR initiatives, as well as potential for sustaining growth over time.

US Corporate Responsibility Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Shannon Schuyler is not surprised by the report’s findings: “Companies that are focused on a sustainable future embrace the fact that an inclusive culture and a diverse leadership team fosters innovation, drives engagement and enhances growth.”

This new study compares the average philanthropic donations of Fortune 500 Companies in 2007 when examined through the lens of women’s level of representation on corporate boards and in corporate officer positions. For that year, when women’s inclusion on a company’s board of directors increased from zero to three or more, annual philanthropic contributions increased by a factor of 28. A company with 25 percent or more women in corporate officer positions boasted philanthropic contributions 13 times higher than companies with no women officers. In other words, every woman added to a corporate board drives annual philanthropic giving up by $2.3 million. Each percentage point increase in the number of women in corporate officer leadership positions increases giving by $5.7 million.

	Source: Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It’s a Matter of Sustainability

What commentary, if any, do these findings provide about the way women lead and make decisions? Schuyler for one worries that the findings might be misconstrued by some as a signal that women are “softer” than their male colleagues and perhaps designate increased philanthropic investments based upon an emotional reaction to present need.

“The reality is that women are very nimble and able to recognize the emotional nature of giving, but focus their deliberation on strategic and sustainable investments in causes and organizations that are aligned to their business,” said Schuyler. “Women are also able to reach across functional areas, collaborate and drive consensus that can increase the pool of advocates, which can lead to greater monetary investment.”

Women’s top-level leadership is also hitting the news in Europe with new quota requirements placing more women on corporate boards, reports Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), a non-profit research organization on women directors. In its latest report, CWDI examines the gender diversity on corporate boards of Fortune Global 200 Companies and shows that quotas really do make a difference. In Europe, Norway, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Iceland, Italy and Belgium currently uphold government-issued quotas mandating the number of seats reserved for women on corporate boards. France and Italy are showing strong gains in women’s boardroom representation with women directors comprising 20.1 percent and 9.2 percent of seats on corporate boards respectively. CWDI Chair Irene Natividad told AFP’s Veronica Smith last November, "The momentum for more women on boards will change the face of the biggest companies in Europe, in the midst of the region's ongoing financial crisis. They are ahead of the ball game."

Source: Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It’s a Matter of Sustainability

The World Economic Forum also released last November its 2011 Global Gender Gap Report. The sixth in a series of annual reports, the 2011 Index measures 134 countries’ performance on gender equality by looking at gender disparities in access to resources and opportunity over time along economic, political, education and health-based indicators. Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden maintain top rankings closing over 80 percent of their gender gaps, with the U.S. ranked 17, and Mali, Pakistan, Chad and Yemen taking the lowest rankings with around 50 percent of their gender gaps yet to close.

Despite gains, the report underscores that no country in the world has fully closed their gender gap. Vital Voices President and CEO Alyse Nelson believes that investing in women’s training and supporting their capacity as leaders is paramount to reducing global gender-inequity: “Investing in women is most effective means by which we all, men, women and children, can realize lasting peace, prosperity and progress."

While the Global Gender Gap Report highlights an economic efficiency case for investing in women and girls, Vital Voices and Nelson recognize, but go beyond, the economic merits of investing in women by understanding the unique DNA of women leaders and their function as multipliers of knowledge, networks and training in their community: “The leaders we work with are effective because they commit themselves to including others in their efforts. They are multipliers because they see mentorship as a critical element of leadership and know that power expands the moment it’s shared.”

---

Heather Burke has more than eight years experience working with partners in the public and private sectors to promote women’s empowerment and develop innovative investment strategies for community development. She has worked in 12 countries on initiatives spanning women's and girls’ leadership, education, income generation, social entrepreneurship, public health, food security, political participation, and environmental conservation. She is a social venture consultant based outside of Washington, D.C.