Gender parity

This case, prepared by the Institute of Gender and the Economy with content and research contributions from VersaFi (formerly WCM) President & CEO Camilla Sutton, is based on a design sprint jointly by both organizations in 2018 at the Rotman School of Management. This report offers an analysis as to what is hindering women from careers in capital markets.

For the last two years, LeanIn.Org and SurveyMonkey have partnered to understand better what men and women are experiencing in the workplace.

Here’s what we learned.

Using primarily annual data from the 2016 Labour Force Survey, this report examines women’s labour market trends and how they have evolved over time. Canadian women’s experiences are also compared against other G7 countries, and divided along personal characteristic lines such as education attained, province, and marital status.

This Deloitte report provides a comprehensive look at both the global efforts made to increase board diversity, and the progress made to date. The research scans 6 continents, over 60 countries, and over 7,000 companies. Findings are divided by region and country, and include industry variations.

In 2017, McKinsey & Company surveyed 233 companies in nine Western European countries to measure progress made towards equal gender representation. They found great interest in gender diversity, but lacklustre results. The report notes that bridging the gender gap in Europe could add USD 2 trillion to the GDP by 2025.

Research conducted for this report state that companies with women in strong leadership positions generate a return on equity of 10.1% per year vs. 7.4% without. The MSCI uses this business case to make the argument that quotas are necessary to reach the goal of 30% female representation in a timely manner.