Over the last couple of weeks I've received a McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report and a Harvard Business School study, both regarding gender diversity - one referring to the $28 trillion contribution women’s parity could make to the global economy and the other reporting that women lack desire to reach the top.
This poses a bit of a dilemma. Maybe the McKinsey report has got it all wrong by putting a dollar value on gender parity; the Harvard report indicates women aren’t interested in power or money.
Is it a case of 'it’s too hard' or 'don’t want to'? Surely a diversity target, quota or initiative might be worthwhile to gain a small piece of the $28 trillion? Only cultural change will address the issues highlighted regarding women’s desire for professional development.
This brings me to an article in a Sunday newspaper about women in technology. They highlighted Sarah Wood, who sold her tech company Unruly for £114m, a company with an ethos grounded in flexibility 'a place where you can bring the kids into work any time you want'.
We need to build organisations that work for women and attract women if we want the $28 trillion in growth. We need more women to start and grow businesses with a culture that works for them or for corporates to embrace the cultural change our businesses need to become truly diverse.
The McKinsey report was entitled The Power of Global Parity. It stated that narrowing the global gender gap in work would not only be equitable in the broadest sense but could double the contribution of women to global GDP growth between 2014 and 2025. Delivering that impact, however, will require tackling gender equality in society.
McKinsey mapped 15 gender equality indicators for 95 countries and finds that 40 of them have high or extremely high levels of gender inequality on at least half of the indicators. The indicators fall into four categories: equality in work, essential services and enablers of economic opportunity, legal protection and political voice, and physical security and autonomy.
They considered a 'full-potential' scenario in which women participate in the economy identically to men, and find that it would add up to $28 trillion, or 26 per cent, to annual global GDP in 2025 compared with a business-as-usual scenario. This impact is roughly equivalent to the size of the combined US and Chinese economies today.
They also analysed an alternative 'best-in-region' scenario in which all countries match the rate of improvement of the best-performing country in their region. This would add as much as $12 trillion in annual GDP by 2025, equivalent in size to the current GDP of Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined, or twice the likely growth in global GDP contributed by female workers between 2014 and 2025 in a business-as-usual scenario.
The Harvard report - entitled 'Compared to men, women view professional advancement as equally attainable, but less desirable' - revealed a stark gap in the professional ambitions of men and women. Having surveyed a diverse sample of more than 4,000 men and women, a team of social scientists reported a list of interesting findings:
• Compared to men, women have more life goals, but fewer of them are focused on power.
• Women perceive professional power as less desirable than men do.
• Women anticipate more negative outcomes from attaining a high-power position.
• Women are less likely than men to jump at opportunities for professional advancement.
• While women and men believe they are equally able to attain high-level leadership positions, men want that power more than women do.
I totally concur that women are equally able to attain any and all high level leadership positions, and have no doubt that within Northern Ireland we could produce lists of women for any position. Amazingly from the time the High Court started in Northern Ireland we could not find one woman judge to fill the role, but this year we found two fantastic women - I rest my case.
Now is the time for Northern Ireland to get our culture right, support female enterprise, support gender diversity and reap those economic benefits that will impact us all. Or are you prepared to ignore McKinsey and Harvard Business School?
:: Roseann Kelly (roseann@ womeninbusinessni.com) is chief executive of Women in Business (www.womeninbusinessni.com). Follow Women in Business NI on facebook at www. facebook.com/women-inbusinessni or on twitter @ wibni.
