Press Release
Women in Senior Leadership Positions Pass 30 Percent Mark Worldwide
03 Mar 2021
The Weekly Journal
Editor’s note: First of a two-part series on women in business
Women have come a long way and while gender equality in the business world has not been reached, the number of women holding senior leadership positions in mid-market businesses globally has hit 31 percent despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting economies around the world, according to Grant Thornton’s annual Women in Business report.
“Passing the 30 percent of women in senior roles globally is an important milestone for businesses, but not the end goal. Those businesses that want to reap the benefits of a better gender balance, must continue to take action to enable women to realize their ambitions,” said Francesca Lagerberg, global leader at Grant Thornton International Ltd.
Seeing the proportion of women leaders rise to 31 percent is encouraging, she indicated, given the global figure remained stubbornly stuck at 29 percent for the previous two years (2019 and 2020). Grant Thornton said it also passes the important 30 percent threshold, which research1 shows is the minimum representation needed to change decision-making processes. Worldwide, all regions surveyed except for Asia and the Pacific (28 percent) have now surpassed the crucial 30 percent milestone.
Another encouraging finding is the types of leadership roles women are occupying. Grant Thornton’s research reveals higher numbers of women across operational C-suite roles compared to last year, with the proportion of female CEOs up 6 percentage points (pp) to 26 percent, female CFOs also up 6 pp to 36 percent, and female COOs up 4 pp to 22 percent. The proportion of women in the more traditional senior HR roles was down slightly at 38 percent (-2pp on 2020), and has trended downwards since 2019.
The gender split for women in senior roles at Grant Thornton, a leading multinational independent audit, tax and advisory firm, is below the threshold, said Kevane Grant Thornton Managing Partner Luis Carlos Marcano.
“Our last annual survey in 2020 revealed that globally, women make up 22 percent of senior management across our member firms. We recognize this is not good enough and we need to improve. At a global level, we are working on several policies/initiatives to help us address the issue and substantially increase this number.
“While each firm has a different starting point from which to benchmark progress, globally, GTIL [Grant Thornton International] is working with member firm leadership to champion the importance of diversity. Specific initiatives include encouraging firms to develop comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategies, capturing best practice, setting out metrics and setting gender targets on all our leadership courses,” Marcano explained.
March is Women’s History Month and THE WEEKLY JOURNAL asked what more could be done to get more women into senior management roles. “Business leaders need to champion the cause of gender diversity and create inclusive cultures in which a wide range of voices are listened to. Leadership from the top is key to driving change as is setting clear diversity and inclusion goals against which progress can be measured,” Marcano said.
“Creating an inclusive business environment that supports gender diversity in leadership will not be easy, so it’s important that business leaders are in it for the long term, and vocal about what they are doing to drive change in their own companies so that others can learn from their experience,” he said.
There is no doubt, he indicated that having more women in senior roles is a good thing. “Diversity in every sense is good for businesses. It encourages different ways of thinking and opens new opportunities for growth. This is particularly relevant in a rapidly changing global business environment, as a wide range of perspectives will help businesses to better analyze and navigate new landscapes,” Marcano pointed out.
The Weekly Journal article
