IE_F_SeniorWomen_1

This article was first published in the March 2017 Ireland edition of Accounting and Business magazine.

Government and public pressure to ensure women are given equal opportunities at work has increased significantly over the past decade, but recent research shows that women continue to be under-represented at senior executive and board level in Irish business.

In January, The Irish Times reported that only 12.5% of directors of Irish Stock Exchange-quoted companies are female (52 of 413 directors in 50 companies), while The Irish Independent found that more than half of the country’s state boards fall short of the government’s 40% gender equality target.

Meanwhile, a major study of Irish businesses across a wide range of business sectors showed that while women are well represented in areas such as HR and marketing, there is significant under-representation in other areas. The research, by Dublin City University and the 30% Club, found that women hold 40% of positions at the lowest level of management surveyed (three steps down from CEO), falling to 35% two levels down from CEO, 26% at executive director-level and 17% at CEO.

Rising participation

‘Two points are worthy of note,’ comments report author Dr Melrona Kirrane: ‘First, while the pattern is the same as last year, the participation rates of women at all levels in the management hierarchy have risen slightly. While this is a positive finding, it is perhaps too early to draw firm conclusions. Repeated data gathering over the five-year
time-span of this research will allow more confidence in this trend. Secondly, as last year, women’s representation at CEO-level is far higher than global standards. This may again represent a greater willingness among organisations already authentically committed to gender equality to disclose their figures in this regard.’

Currently, the highest percentage of women at CEO level is in the retail and pharma sectors (new sectors this year), followed by professional services, technology and financial services.

‘In the latter sector, the progression of women to higher levels of seniority is severely curtailed,’ Kirrane says.

The study found that the lowest participation of women in management is to found in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Global goals

Under-representation of women at senior levels is not unique to Ireland. A study by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co shows many companies struggle to ensure women are represented fairly in top management. In western Europe, only 17% of executive committee members are women, and women comprise just 32% of members of corporate boards for companies listed in western Europe’s major market indices.

One of the reasons for under-representation is that there are not enough women at senior executive-level in core business functions, despite numerous studies showing the presence of women at senior level correlates with increased profitability.

In February 2016, a report by EY and the Peterson Institute for International Economics revealed that an organisation with 30% female leaders could add up to six percentage points to its net margin. The report says that ‘while there is no evidence that, by itself, having a female CEO is related to increased profitability, there is some evidence that having women on a board may help – and robust evidence that women in the C-level (CEO, CFO and COO of management) is associated with higher profitability’.

‘We need to have a greater gender balance at every level,’ says Ibec senior labour market policy executive Dr Kara McGann. ‘Typically we see graduates enter in equal numbers, but as careers progress, we lose women at every upward stage.’

Gender lens

Among other measures, McGann says that businesses need to apply a ‘gender lens’ to their recruitment and performance management processes. ‘We know that women tend not to apply for positions unless they have all of the requirements, while men will typically apply with even 60% of the requirements. This means we need to encourage applications, but also we need to ensure the language in the job descriptions is gender neutral and the requirements are actually necessary – don’t say that you need seven years’ experience if you will accept candidates with only five years’ experience. We also need to have gender-balanced selection panels and unconscious bias training for those making selection decisions.’

At Deloitte, unconscious bias training is currently being rolled out at leadership level as one of a number of initiatives aimed at improving diversity. Others include a module-based programme for women returning from maternity leave.

Building the pipeline

In the UK, a government-backed review led by GlaxoSmithKline chairman Sir Philip Hampton recently set a target for FTSE 100 companies to have at least 33% of their executive pipeline positions filled by women by 2020. The review called for the UK Corporate Governance Code to be amended to require FTSE 350-listed companies to disclose their gender balance in their annual report and accounts.

Commenting on the recommendations, Laura Hinton, executive board member and head of people at PwC, said: ‘Introducing gender targets for boards has produced results and it’s right that those targets are now being stretched to 33% and also extended to executive roles… But if organisations really want diverse teams to become a standard fixture of their business in the future they need to go one step further and set targets for all levels.’

PwC has highlighted the importance of gender-inclusive mobility programmes, which the firm says are an important lever for attracting and retaining key people. According to PwC, female demand for mobility is at an all-time high in Ireland, yet while women believe the best time to complete a foreign assignment is in the first six years of their career, only a third of organisations offer these opportunities.

At KPMG, where diversity is a key strategic priority, Darina Barrett, partner and head of financial services markets, says: ‘All of our key performance metrics have a gender lens. We proactively profile female role models to our management teams, and our learning and development process includes unconscious bias training and individual mentoring and coaching as required. We also have intelligent working arrangements in place for our management team, which include flexibility on time in the office and access to technology that facilitates working outside the office.’

‘Men have to be involved in this too,’ says Ibec’s McGann, ‘sometimes as drivers for meaningful change or champions, other times as sponsors for high-performance females – encouraging, representing and supporting advancement opportunities’.

‘We make better decisions, are more creative and innovative, are more responsive to our customers and, ultimately, impact the bottom line when we have diversity in our workplace.’

Finally, while organisations work to overcome the obstacles that prevent women from attaining senior roles, there are practical steps that individual women can take for themselves, says Orla Carolan, who runs The Talent Coach. ‘Defining and effectively using your support system, setting boundaries to maintain balance and safeguard your time and energy, and seeking out sponsors are some ways in which women can strengthen their path and climb the career ladder in their chosen field.’ 

Daisy Downes, journalist