Human Capital

While Toronto stands near the top of North American cities for gender balance in the workplace, we still have far to go

By: Carol Wilding, President & CEO,
Toronto Region Board of Trade

“Number two, and 72%… that’s not too bad!”

That’s what one of my colleagues said as we were looking through the latest edition of our annual Toronto as a Global City: Scorecard on Prosperity report.

I’m a firm believer in what gets measured, gets managed.

For five years now, this report has allowed us to explore what makes the Toronto Region a highly desirable place to live, work and do business. It provides us an evidence-based look at how the Toronto Region stacks up against a number of other global city regions. This year, our report takes a hard look at our region’s human capital.

We know that while city-regions once competed mainly to attract companies and investment, they now also aim to attract a highly educated and skilled workforce.

Which brings me back to my colleague’s comment. Number two and 72% is certainly a good ranking – except for the fact that we were looking specifically at Toronto’s female-male income ratio. Of the 12 North American cities measured, only Los Angeles, Toronto and Montreal showed the male-female ratio above 70%. For our colleagues in Chicago, Calgary, Boston and Seattle, the gulf is even wider, with each city ranking below 65%.

The advancement of women in the workforce is a deeply personal issue for me. It’s a subject I’ve spoken about often, at our podium, as an invited guest speaker and in the media. I’ve discussed what has worked well for me, and what I’ve learned in my professional life.

One thing I’ve noted throughout my career is that men negotiate better deals than women in their professional field. They reach for that next promotion. Women don’t.

It’s important, then, for those of us in management and executive positions to take a leadership role by going beyond mentorship. The notion of sponsorship has become increasingly important in advancing women’s careers. Men in senior positions often sponsor younger men within an organization, helping them move up the ranks. The same concept of sponsorship can and should apply to women.

We’re beginning to see more of this happen in the workplace. Yet, as Scorecard shows, women are still not achieving the same level of success as our male counterparts. The development of women as business leaders, and in particular, developing skills and opportunities for more women in the workplace is vital to improving this situation.

For city-regions to attract the best and brightest, pay equity and career advancement opportunities for women are essential. Equality is not just a social imperative; it is a business imperative as well. But there’s still a lot of work to do.

While women make up nearly half of Canada’s workforce, at the management and executive level there is certainly opportunity to grow. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary were in the bottom five of North American cities to find women in management occupations, each below 40% representation.

As Catalyst has shown, at the board level things are not where they need to be either.

So while my colleague says number two and 72% isn’t so bad when compared to our North American peers, it’s not good enough. We still have far to go. What gets measured gets managed. By bringing forward our findings, I hope that we can continue to bring more people into the discussion, around our dinner tables, in the media, and more importantly, into the boardroom.

Carol Wilding is President & CEO of Toronto Region Board of Trade, the chamber of
commerce for Canada’s largest urban centre connecting more than 200,000 business professionals and influencers throughout the Toronto Region. To read the full Scorecard 2013, please visit bot.com/scorecard.