‘Businesses perform better with more women in top posts’

MANILA, Philippines — Businesses perform better, sometimes by as much as 20 percent in profits, when they employ more women in top positions, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

A report by the ILO covering 13,000 firms in 70 countries globally revealed that around six in 10 agreed that gender diversity improved their business, with almost as many citing gains in creativity, innovation and reputation.

In terms of profits, almost three-quarters of companies that tracked gender diversity in management positions reported increases of between five and 20 percent, while the majority saw 10 to 15 percent growth.

Aside from higher profits, the report also underlined that having more women in the boardroom led to more female managers at the entry, medium and senior levels.

The report said that despite these positive findings, less than a third of company boards globally have at least 30 percent female participation, with the “critical mass” where the positive effects on the bottomline of more women in senior management begin to kick in.

“What happens at the very top leadership does trickle down,” report author Jae-Hee Chang said. “It does have an association and connection to business performance.”

“It’s clear there are still fewer women in those type of (senior) roles than in the workforce as a whole, and the higher you go in the chain of command in a company… the less likely you are to find a woman,” ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities director Deborah France-Massin said.

On a national level, the United Nations’ labor agency report also found a correlation between more female employees and increased production, based on data from 186 countries from 1991-2017.

Gender discrimination in the workplace was potentially a bigger problem than previously thought, according to the report.

“It goes above and beyond the workplace,” Massin said.

“Workplaces are a microcosm of the societies we are operating in and the culture we are born into. Companies can do so much, but it’s also about societal change and the role of women in society and the acceptance that as the workplace progresses, companies need talent to move forward, and some of those barriers that used to be there need breaking down even further,” she added.