Over the past few months, there has been much discussion about women on boards. Through my role as a founding member of the 30% club, I promote gender equality in the boardroom. This issue has been vigorously driven by EU Commissioner Reding, by the 30% Club, and by the UK commissioned Davis Report, an inquiry to encourage more companies to have women on boards. There is some speculation in opinion as to how this end goal should be achieved. Commissioner Reding is a supporter of quotas, whereas the 30% Club, a group of chairman voluntarily committed to bringing more women onto UK corporate boards, opposes quotas. Instead, the 30% Club supports voluntary change to achieving balanced boards.
The 30% Club believes that quotas are harmful to the ongoing gender debate. We believe that quotas do not work, that they are counter-productive and can be harmful to the development of diversity. We believe that voluntary change is the right approach to achieving a balanced board.
Achieving equality in the boardroom is not a women's issue, but a business issue. There are many powerful arguments for having gender varied boards. One reason is that companies with varied boards deter themselves from the danger of 'groupthink' - psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups in which the desire for harmony with decision-making overrides the realistic appraisal and alternatives. Having women on boards will change the decision making process, would ensure that the pipeline is at optimal function, and would redefine corporate social responsibilities (CSR) policies. Some CSR Policies include projects associated with education, food security and human trafficking policies; issues that women are are often more pro-active in pursuing.
One policy in particular is The Athens Policy, which includes seven principals adopted by a number of companies in January 2006 to combat human trafficking globally. These strategies include corporate procedures for anti-trafficking policies and reports to share information on best practices.
Furthermore, I welcome the British government's recent Business Innovation and Skills Committee inquiry into women in the workplace that was launched this week. Amongst the topics the committee will be considering is whether to promote part-time working at all levels. In this technical age, employees have the benefit of being able to work from home. This committee understands the potential value of advocating for women's full economic and social participation in the workplace. A women's value is one that we should not hesitate to unleash.
Follow Baroness Mary Goudie on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BaronessGoudie
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http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Women-Corporate-Boards-Encourage-Better-Financial-Reporting-64656-1.html
Voluntary change eh? Those with power do not give it up voluntarily. That is why the USA had a civil rights movement and Britain has equality laws. You say to all-male boards that they should do the right thing and diversify voluntarily and you are simply reinforcing their position of power because you are telling them that qualified women are asking (pretty please) to have some seats at the table. If they were inclined to do it voluntarily there wouldn't even be a 30% club because they would have done it already out of their own perception of the unfairness of the situation. They haven't though, have they? There is only one place that people with power give it up out of the sheer goodness of their characters - Cloud Cuckoo Land.
(Part 2) No madam, this glass ceiling will be shattered the same way others have - with the well-placed point of a stiletto and the application of sufficient force. Many up-and-coming female executives have put these men on notice that they are coming to take their seats at the table, like it or not. Neither quotas nor voluntary change is the correct solution, societal change is. We need to raise our young people differently and stop portraying females as homemakers, giving them baking sets and ironing boards (in pink of course) while giving males chemistry sets and engineering tools. The clothing for young girls and women in the shops need to have a little more material to them (men's clothing always seems to cover their bodies sufficiently and still allow them to dress attractively - I'm no puritan but clothing for girls and young women leave less and less to the imagination - in glaring contrast to that of boys and young men). The way the genders are portrayed in the media and entertainment also contributes. All of it and more adds up to no women in boardrooms. If we tackle those things, there will be a knock-on effect that will reach boardrooms. You are both doing the equivalent of debating what kind of band aid to apply when the real problem is far below the surface of the skin and requires more complex treatment.
We don't raise our children in isolation. You can avoid gender stereotyping as faithfully as you like, but they see and hear it all around, they absorb it before they even start school - male TV newsreaders and 'experts', women that giggle and don't wear much, male GPs and female receptionists, policemen. It is everywhere. The idea that science and technology are not for girls is instilled before any of them have a clue who they even are.
It may be that this will change over time, but I am not convinced. The fundamental equality of men and women has been 'accepted' for more than 30 years. Women have been better educated and more qualified than men, on average, at the start of their careers for 20 years, and yet they are not 'up-and-coming' in anything like the numbers they should be.
Quotas are a necessary start, quotas giving access in numbers to positions of real power. Society cannot change in the multitude of ways that it must while women are absent from the circles where its rules are written. We can, and must, put ourselves there. We have the majority of electoral votes and that is power. As you say, it is futile to ask for seats at the table. We have the means of taking them and we will continue to get nowhere until we use it.