It’s time for women to leap over the boardroom barrier

Christinne Muschi via The Globe and Mail
Feb. 15 2013

The vast majority of Canadians – 85 per cent – now live in provinces governed by women. This is a remarkable transition from even a decade ago. Women are playing increasingly prominent roles not just in government but in law, medicine and academia in Canada, the U.S. and Western Europe.

Kathleen Wynne, the 59-year-old Premier of Ontario, is the latest leader to join the club of six female premiers. Their ranks include Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak, a 58-year-old grandmother, and B.C. Premier Christy Clark, 47, who recently observed that being a single mother is an asset in her job because it keeps her connected to everyday life. These leaders all prove that a high-impact career and motherhood can indeed be a winning combination.

Everywhere, it seems, change is in the air, with one glaring exception: corporate Canada. The pace of change when it comes to gender parity on corporate boards has been glacial. Women account for just 14.4 per cent of all 3,992 board seats at Canada’s 500 largest organizations, including publicly traded companies, Crown corporations and Canadian subsidiaries of large multinationals. That percentage has budged only a few points upwards over the last 10 years. Forty-one per cent of companies still have no women at all on their boards.

Champions of equality have made arguments about why it behooves corporations to add women to their ranks. A diverse board improves governance and stewardship. Women are more innovative and have an in-bred sense of skepticism. Companies with more female directors are more profitable.

The conventional wisdom has been, Don’t worry, the cream will rise to the top. However, this has not happened in the corporate world the way it has in politics. The sector has not self-corrected. The research, the measuring, the data, the arguments have failed to bring about change. Read full article>>