No time to be complacent
Edition 93
“Our data, I have found, has been quite confronting to liberal policy makers. Because in our bubbles something different is happening, to what is happening across society.” — Michelle Harrison, Global CEO, Verian
Góðan daginn!
I landed in Reykjavik last Sunday, despite a chorus of voices questioning my decision.
Was flying into a country that had just declared an ‘Emergency’ a smart plan? After all, an entire town just miles from the international airport had been evacuated, seismic activity was off the charts, a volcanic eruption was imminent just 60km from its capital city! We all of course are still scarred from the disruption of the 2010 eruption which brought Europe to a grinding halt.
The organisers of the Reykjavik Global Forum didn’t seem phased, sending reassuring messages that the program was proceeding as normal. I thought to myself, if the government of Iceland, its Parliament and Women Political Leaders didn’t see magma rising to the surface as an issue, being surrounded by 500 leaders from 82 countries, in the freezing winds of Iceland seemed like a pretty awesome way to celebrate Diwali 🪔 the festival of lights, this year!
And it was! While peeking a look at the glowing molten lava was not on the cards (that would’ve led to a quick arrest!), everyone in Iceland seemed to take it all in their stride!
In stark contrast to rather hysterical global headlines, Iceland’s President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson and First Lady Eliza Reid chose to welcome us to their home with the wry humour the Icelandic people are known for. While a town hadn’t been impacted by volcanic activity since 1973, they reassured us that the country was well prepared to assist those evacuated. Volcanic and seismic activity was afterall a way of life for them, they said.
When it came to visitors like us? The President hit a home run with his punchline, ‘don’t worry - you’ll catch your flights home!’
We did!
Housekeeping note
I’ll be sending out a more frequent newsletter over the next few weekends in the run up to Christmas!
The CB over the course of the next 5 weeks, will feature exclusive interviews with the former Presidents of Finland and Switzerland, profiles of the global Chiefs I met and the diverse conversations I had in Reykjavik about everything from Responsible Energy Transitions, Artificial Intelligence to Conservation and Climate Change.
I hope these insightful women inspire you to be the change you want to be in 2024!
No time to be complacent
The President’s matter of fact approach set the tone for conversations kicked off by Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir. The underlying message in her opening session was quite clear. That despite dealing with ongoing crises, leaders need to keep their eye on the ball for their future goals.
Katrín was quick to point out, for all the chatter about how high Iceland ranks in gender equality, it is not yet time to be complacent.
“We saw clearly with the large participation in the women's strike a few weeks ago that there is still work to be done in Iceland, especially in terms of equal pay and gender-based violence,” Katrín said.
(Note: I refer to the Prime Minister by her first name as I’ve learnt, to do so otherwise/with formal titles is considered bad etiquette amongst the people of Iceland.)
Iceland ranks #1 on the World Economic Forum‘s 2023 Global Gender Gap Index. That report clearly pointed out: It will take 162 years to close the Political Empowerment gender gap, 169 years for the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, and 16 years for the Educational Attainment gender gap. If those time frames weren’t enough to make you miserable, let me ensure you are. The time to close the Health and Survival gender gap remains undefined.
To that end, the forum Chairs honed in on 4 key actions for the cross-sectoral leaders gathered. The actions were given the moniker - the 4 Es: Equal Pay, Equal Representation, Equal Parental Leave, and Ending Gender-Based Violence.
A worthy action plan, but also one with the odds stacked against it in the real world. Crises, political pulls and push, profit margins, regulatory uncertainty and shareholder demands are a far cry from the warm and comfortable bubble we were in Reykjavik. And also, remember the action plan is predicated on if at least some framework already exists in a country’s legal toolkit.
But if you don’t make a plan how can you even start to try! And where better to exchange ideas of what works and doesn’t, than when you’re surrounded by the most diverse of experiences.
Let’s get worried - Reykjavik Index findings
A reality check when looking at achieving the 4E’s at speed is the very real, global push back on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) actions. That pushback is not just in countries where you’d presume women’s rights are under threat. There is clear and present danger in the G7 countries as well.
You may remember the December 2022 edition of CB ‘A ways to go’ — where I shared some of the shocking findings of Kantar Public’s (now called Verian) Reykjavik Index for Leadership. In case you missed it, the index explores how society perceives women and men as leaders and captures prejudice against both, across more than 20 economic sectors.
Last year’s index revealed some worrying trends about the level of trust declining in women leaders. It was an eye opener in the dangers of becoming complacent.
“Our data, I have found, has been quite confronting to liberal policy makers. Because in our bubbles something different is happening, to what is happening across society. Last year people found the data unsettling and troubling. And then about a month after Reykjavik, Andrew Tate one of those great British exports was arrested. Then I think the context behind our data became more obvious,” said Verian global CEO Michelle Harrison.
Set to be released soon, the 2023-2024 Index includes the 6th year of data collected in August, September and October of this year for the G7 countries. The highlights of this year’s report presented in Reykjavik were not just troubling, they were downright terrifying.
“For the first time we see counter trends that we haven’t seen in the last 70 years,” Michelle said.
This year the index clearly shows there has been a clear reversal in the trust placed with female leaders within the G7.
In the previous 5 editions of the index, Canada, U.K. and the U.S. had been the leading regions for women in leadership. But in 2023 there has been a clear curve down in all three countries. “Worryingly,” Michelle says, “a historical anomaly is at its core.”
Young people are more regressive
For the first time since the 1950s young people have a more regressive attitude than their parents and the gap is widening.
Among young people (between the age of 18-34) polled for the Reykjavik Index —with the exception of Italy, the perception of women in leadership by youth has seen a drop across the G7 countries over the past 5 years. The drop has been even more dramatic since last year. The two countries where it’s not even a red flag, but an outright emergency siren are the U.K and the U.S.
Exacerbating this rapid decline in trust per the index have been the ongoing impact of the financial crisis and austerity, populism, the fallout of covid, the cost-of-living crisis. But most critically the impact of social media has been highlighted as the causality for the speed of regression. The creation of bubbles that people can remain within, according to the Index authors has been core to the reversal of gains made toward equality.
It’s not just young men!
The trend is being led by young men, but shockingly the index found that young women are also more prejudiced than their parents.
In order to stop this trend in its tracks and to reverse it as quickly as it has taken root, it is essential that young men and women don’t see gender equality as a threat.
One tactic Michelle says is how we communicate.
“All of the achievements that have been made to make corporations fairer places - the way they are talked about don’t make it sound like there is a group of young men who are now not going to be able to thrive. We need to change our language to be inclusive, which isn’t just about including groups that have previously experienced prejudice, but ensuring our young men still feel right at the heart of that.”
World News To Note
Politics
Let’s just rip off the bandaid of pretending to work towards equality shall we? China’s National Women’s Congress has always been full of pomp, similar to Russia’s Eurasia Women’s Forum. And like its Russian counterpart rarely has anyone paid much heed to it.
That is, until this year — when the government not so subtly let the ladies know what they thought women’s role in society was. The Politburo Standing Committee advise that equalled ripping off that equality bandaid? Women should study the philosophy of Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and “establish a correct outlook on marriage and love, childbirth and family”. Read the analysis at The Economist
Business
There is something very strange going on in the world of AI.
First Mira Murati was elevated from OpenAI’s CTO to its interim leader after CEO Sam Altman was ousted. Now there is chatter Sam’s coming back! Read more at Wired & Financial Times.
Then, Meta dispersed the members of its Responsible AI team among other groups in the company where the company claims they will continue to work on preventing harms associated with artificial intelligence. Read more at Reuters
Upside -
At least Germany, France and Italy have reached an agreement on future AI regulation. Read more at Reuters
But the UK, which just hosted an AI Safety Summit a few weeks ago with much pomp and fanfare will not be doing any regulating. For now any way. Read more at Financial Times
Civil Society
Total Energies' $20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Mozambique may run into trouble thanks to activists like Lorette Philippot, private finance campaigner with Friends of the Earth France. Warning of worsening climate change and increasing human rights abuses Friends of the Earth, alongside 100 environmental lobby groups (including ActionAid International and Greenpeace France), urged banks and financiers to withdraw their support to the project in a letter sent to more than 24 project funders. Read More at France 24
Arab civil society is facing a potential financial chasm due to the war in Gaza. Human rights activists associated with humanitarian aid groups and Arab civil society claim, Western donors are cutting them off financially for criticising Israel’s actions in Gaza. These criticisms have predominantly focussed on the plight of civilians, specifically women and children in the territory. Before the war began, per the PCBS (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics) off the 2.3 million population of Gaza, 1.1 million are women, 11% of Gaza’s households are headed by women with 40% of the population under the age of 15. Read more at Al Jazeera
Society
In a macho world of the Latin American organised crime, the number of women being incarcerated has doubled in the past decade. These are not the usual stereotypes of the women we imagine connected to cartels - the overtly sexualised wives of crime bosses, or their hapless victims. Inspired by El Chapo’s lieutenant Guadalupe Fernández Valenci, journalist Deborah Bonello began looking into the women working in the cartels for her book “Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America’s Cartels”. She’s uncovered startling data - women are now the violent new overlords of some Latin America’s drug cartels. Read more at LA Times
In a new study the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) compared alcohol consumption of women and men across 33 countries. The UK ranked #1 in the global charts for binge drinking among women with 26% doing this at least once a month. Read more at The Guardian
Entertainment
Kerry Washington will be honored at The Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment breakfast gala. Read more at Hollywood Reporter
Music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused of sexual abuse and assult by former girlfriend and singer Cassie Ventura. He denied it, but settled in record time. Read more at The Hill
Africa’s entertainment and media (E&M) industry, post Covid is on fire, but the faultlines are widening, as consumer behavior change! Per the latest report led by Alinah Motaung, PwC Africa Entertainment and Media Leader: Nigeria is expected to experience the strongest growth in E&M revenue, with revenues expected to more than double from 2022 to 2027 and music streaming is the leading the way. Read more at PwC