Research shows that women are still underrepresented in the C-suite
the report also found that women are far more likely to report headwinds that prevent them from advancing in their careers.
It’s been eight years since Canadian securities regulators instituted so-called comply-or-explain rules in an effort to increase the number of women in the nation’s corporate boardrooms and executive offices.
So ask Kelly Schmitt what she thinks about the latest round of Canadian Securities Administrators data showing that in 2022, just 66 per cent of publicly traded companies in Alberta had one or more women in executive officer positions, and she doesn’t mince words.
“That’s pathetic,” said Schmitt, CEO of Calgary-based tech firm Benevity. “And the ‘one or more’ sounds like having ‘one’ is enough. Is that really the bar we’re setting?”
Since 2014, companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange have been required to either disclose, or explain why they can’t disclose, their progress in getting more women around their board table or into their company’s c-suites.
Some progress has been made. The 2022 numbers, released by the CSA last month, show that 24 per cent of corporate board seats in Canada are occupied by women, up from 11 per cent when “comply or explain” requirements began.
The statistics also show that 61 per cent of publicly traded companies now have a policy related to the representation of women on their board, compared to just 15 per cent of companies in 2014. In 2022, 45 per cent of corporate board vacancies were filled by women (a 10 per cent increase from 2021).
But when it comes to the c-suite, less progress has been made. Only five per cent of TSX issuers had a female CEO in 2022, a number that has barely budged since the first year of data collection. And only four per cent of issuers have adopted any targets for gender diversity at the executive level, just a fraction of the 39 per cent who have set gender diversity targets for their boards.
Women leaders are as likely as men at their level to want to be promoted and aspire to senior-level roles, according to a recent report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, which surveyed companies in both the U.S. and Canada.
But the report also found that women are far more likely to report headwinds that prevent them from advancing in their careers. Women leaders are far more likely than men in leadership to have colleagues imply that they aren’t qualified for their jobs. And women leaders are twice as likely as men leaders to be mistaken for someone more junior.
Women leaders are also more likely to report that personal characteristics, such as their gender or being a parent, have played a role in them being denied or passed over for a raise or promotion, according to McKinsey.
The McKinsey report said that retaining women executives is also a challenge, and points out that since the COVID-19 pandemic, women leaders are leaving their companies at a much higher rate than male leaders.
