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While the percentage of women sitting on company boards has been increasing slowly in G20 countries, up from 15% in 2016 to 18% in 2019, the number of women occupying managerial positions in G20 countries has only grown by 3.3% in ten years.
Today, the G20 EMPOWER Alliance, which advocates the advancement of women’s economic empowerment and representation at senior levels of business around the world, has released Canada specific and global insights and recommendations for businesses.
G20 EMPOWER brings together private sector leaders and government counterparts to jointly advocate for and enact women’s advancement to leadership positions in the private sector. G20 EMPOWER focuses on implementing concrete actions in key areas including ensuring women having equal access to necessary financing, capital, skills development and training, leadership, and market opportunities to support the greater recruitment and advancement of women as business leaders.
“Since attending the launch of the Canadian-led EMPOWER initiative in 2019, Canada has continued to further promote gender equality, advance women’s economic empowerment, and encourage a greater representation of diverse women in leadership roles across the country,” said the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.
“Over the past year, women – and especially Black, Indigenous, and racialized women, women living with disabilities, and members of LGBTQ2 communities – have been disproportionately affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Canada is addressing the impacts of this she-cession, and is working to ensure an intersectional, feminist recovery from this crisis by supporting women entrepreneurs as well as a more equal, diverse, and inclusive workforce in both the public and private sectors.”
“G20 EMPOWER works to encourage private sector leaders and government officials to inspire social change, be champions for equality in all forms, and grow employment opportunities for women and the number of women-led and women-owned businesses, here in Canada”, states Shahrzad Rafati, G20 EMPOWER Co-chair.
“Building gender balanced organizations and ensuring women have equal access to necessary financing, capital, skills development and training, leadership, and market opportunities is not just the right thing to do from a moral standpoint, but it’s the smart thing to do.”
Today, to support that mission, G20 EMPOWER is sharing its detailed Good Practices report, assembled in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for business decision makers which includes information on private sector best practices as well as public sector initiatives.
This also follows global studies performed by G20 EMPOWER in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and OECD that outline the state of play of women’s economic empowerment and representation at senior levels of business.