 DISCOVERY MOMENTS The Men’s Corner: Improving gender diversity in companies: Why CEOs should be serious about sex FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER 2007
Revolutionary changes have occurred in the role of women but the changes are not yet reflected in the world of business. This was journalist and author Alison Maitland’s introductory statement to a session that attracted such a large audience the venue had to be transferred at the last moment to a bigger room. In Europe, she said, only eight per cent of corporate board members were women. The figure for Japan was two per cent. According to one survey, the Philippines had the highest number of women (58 per cent) in management positions. In her forthcoming book, Why Women Mean Business, Maitland quotes panelist Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Renault and Nissan, as saying at last year’s Women’s Forum that women directly made or influenced two-thirds of car purchases in Japan. Nissan surveys had shown that 80 per cent of women buyers would prefer to have saleswomen in the showrooms. So would 50 per cent of men. But women represented only 10 per cent of salespeople in Japan and only 1.9 per cent of Japanese car industry managers. Despite such discrepancies, Maitland said women were part of today’s talent pool, represented more than half the market and were trendsetters. Their role had important implications in countries with an ageing workforce, falling fertility rates and skills shortages. They also lived longer than men. She also pointed to evidence of a link between women in management and high company performance. Gender, she said, was a business issue, not a women’s issue. It could also be a sensitive issue, and it was helpful when men in senior positions spoke out on the subbject. Her programme for helping companies wake up to ‘womenomics’ and achieve success in gender policies included:
Panelists were asked to comment on their organisations’ gender policies. Jean-Paul Tricoire admitted that Schneider Electric, of which he is CEO, was a « male company ». But the company was convinced it needed to introduce gender diversity and in the last five years had started to shift its policies, beginning with the recruitment of more women to its 120,000 workforce. Frank Brown said his business school placed top priority on gender parity at all levels of the institution – a goal no business school in the world had yet achieved. Targets, he said, had to be incremental and realistic. He also pointed out that male-dominated organisations tended not to nominate women for top positions. High-level intervention was needed to break the pattern. Ghosn agreed that changing company policy on diversity – which included foreign workers as well as women - was a difficult process. He emphasised the importance of making a sound business case for introducing and promoting women. The key point, he said, was not selecting a woman for a job, but having enough female candidates. A shortlist of 10 men was of no use. Ghosn said transparency was good for diversity, because women would be attracted to seek employment with a company they believed had sound gender policies. It gave the company a competitive edge, he said. He criticised companies that were slow to act, saying that if people felt it was taking too long to get an opportunity for promotion they would leave. Questions from the floor provoked personal responses as well as business prescriptions. Ghosn said the idea that his daughters would face discrimination was unacceptable. Nevertheless, he added, you still had to make a business case: you couldn’t argue that you wanted more women in management just because you had three daughters. Brown recalled that when his two children were aged 3 and 1, his wife had said she was bored and would like to go to law school. He had to overcome his traditional attitudes about bringing up a family, and was now immensely proud of his wife’s achievements. Tricoire told the meeting that he had two boys and a daughter. He said: “Don’t tell my boys, but my daughter already manages them.” ____________________________ |