The Platitude Party
Edition 84
Happy Sunday,
Over the past few months, I have been tempted to simply just give up on this passion project, of collating amazing stories about amazing women around the world.
Why, you ask? Because I never thought simply hunting for and sharing stories about women leaders across 195 countries on this planet, would go from a lovely hobby to becoming a depressing and full-time job!
Over the past few months, one strong trend has emerged in the media industry (from my perspective) — that the 50:50 representation they love to tout, doesn’t extend to their own coverage. The stories I do find in the world’s leading news organisations inevitably revolve around headline making by a handful of famous women politicians, entertainment news, the predictable sob stories or the banal Markle-Middleton ones.
Turns out, despite the perception of a whole load of women working in journalism - the “News” is still pretty much run by men — As this 2023 Reuters Institute factsheet highlights:
These 2 points in their report really got to me. It analyses “the gender breakdown of top editors in a strategic sample of 240 major online and offline news outlets in 12 different markets across five continents.”
“Only 22% of the 180 top editors across the 240 brands covered are women, despite the fact that, on average, 40% of journalists in the 12 markets are women. In 2022, this figure was 21% across the same markets.”
“When we compare the percentage of women working in journalism with the percentage of women in top editorial positions, we find a weak positive correlation. Despite this, in 11 out of 12 markets, there are lower percentages of women in top editorial roles than women working as journalists.”
No wonder choice of stories of news organisations is so skewed! By nature, news is fast. It is easier to convince your boss of a story with a name/names that are known (inevitably a man or the same tight knit circle of women). It’s easier to churn out stories at speed when it’s about outrage Vs innovation (eyeballs). It’s easier to go with an established black book without the added pressure of hunting down female experts. It’s just easier all around, not to be militantly signed on to 50:50.
But some of that blame falls on us, as women - We don’t make time to be visible, because we don’t see the value in it. We think being called a female CEO is passé. We stick to our industry WhatsApp groups as our safe spaces. We don’t want to be seen in workplace women’s groups - afraid we’ll be tagged ‘that woman’. Or in some cases, we don’t want to raise our heads above the parapet to even be acknowledged as ‘the woman’. We think of our world and country and believe everywhere may look like it. We prioritise our jobs and family thinking someone else who loves the spotlight, enjoys the self-branding will step in. But in some of the worst cases I’ve had the pleasure of encountering - there are those in the ‘sisterhood’ with not a care about uplifting other women, beyond platitude statement making; becoming a ‘face of equality’; making a ton of money from the exercise, but actually doing naught for it.
Some of that blame falls on our male allies too. They don’t insist our profiles need to be raised to the organisation’s internal communications teams. They don’t make allowances or push us to be visible or heard on global stages. They don’t put their power behind their organisation’s women’s groups. They don’t insist on flexible (real) working or parental leave. It’s simpler and easier to feel good about their DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) policies by appointing female NEDs (non-executive directors) to boards, check the box, move on and let us get on with our jobs too. They aren’t our fathers! They have businesses to run after all!
Step out of the shadow ladies - our time for equity hasn’t arrived yet. We’re still fighting for the D & I bit. Even International Women’s Day which has become a such corporate check boxing exercise seemed to realise that! This year, I chose to ignore the platitudes and focus on actions. And it’ not a pretty picture
This little doozy from Ipsos UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London hit my inbox this week (the evening before IWD2023 kicked off). And considering how proud western democracies like the UK are of their stance on women’s rights - it should be a wakeup call!
Some trends suggest a growing resistance to gender equality in Britain
38% now agree that when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough – up from 25% in 2018.
38% also feel that men are being expected to do too much to support equality, an increase on the 29% who felt this way in 2019.
The share of the British public who say that a man who stays home to look after his children is less of a man has risen slightly, from 13% in 2019 to 19% today, with men (23%) more likely than women (14%) to feel this way
Remember back in December I highlighted the Reykjavik Global Forum’s worrying findings that female CEOs were less trusted and that our younger generation was more prejudiced against women leaders than any generation alive? (If you need a refresher click the link)
Then there is this — a snapshot of global women’s participation in the workforce, if you thought shouting about being a woman leader from the rooftop or about women in the workplace was something to leave behind in the past, along with the suffragettes! Pictures speak a thousand words, eh?
But Maithreyi, you’ll say — the headlines tell us the UK just reached 40% of boards being female! Or there are 34 female heads of state in the world! Women hold 32% of top leadership positions (CEO/CFO/CIO etc) across the globe!
I just returned from India, where the dangers of believing rhetoric over fact are on plain display.
While the country’s Millennial/GenZ are being painted as aspirational, the key to India’s economic boom - Women’s participation in the labour force is now at a dismal 19% (the slide has been steep in the past few years!). In the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2022, India ranks 135 out of 146 countries and is one of the worst performers on gender equality in South Asia with only Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan performing worse in the region. Even among India’s listed companies (on the National Stock Exchange) of which there are 2,041 - only 100 have a female Managing Director/CEO.
But here are the national headlines that have convinced a country otherwise:
CALL TO ACTION
I commit to raising the profile of every worthy female leader who you highlight to me/I meet, across every contact and platform I have access to, and will now build!
In return, my call of action to you is:
Send me the names, contacts, stories of the ladies YOU deem deserving. Let’s raise the profiles of leaders we need to hear about
Share and urge other women and allies to read/sign up to this newsletter. And importantly share every leadership/expertise story you come across in any media with leaders you know - young and old, across sectors.
Commit to standing by each other’s side and share advice, financial expertise and be brave!
Collate an army of allies in whatever field you are in. But hold them accountable when they take the easy path
Acknowledge and talk to and educate young people in your team/home - the battle for equity is not over, it has just begun
Silver linings!
Let’s celebrate them, because there are women leaders and CEOs doing it right too!
I’m choosing to focus on Equileap’s 2023 Gender Equality Global Report, which ranks companies across the world based on 19 criteria, including Gender Balance in Leadership and Workforce; Equal Compensation & Work Life Balance; and Policies Promoting Gender Equality. It’s an in-depth analysis of gender equality in companies globally, presenting the top 100 companies which score the highest. This year, the research examined 3,787 publicly listed companies, representing 102 million employees across 23 countries.
The top five companies for gender equality this year are (and let it not be said we don’t celebrate allies who actually ‘do’!):
Australian property developer Mirvac: CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz
UK based Diageo: CEO Ivan Menezes
Australia’s Medibank: CEO David Koczkar
Germany’s Allianz: CEO Oliver Bäte
Switzerland’s UBS: CEO Ralph Hamers
More upsides (quoting the report):
The number of companies offering equal leave to both parents has more than doubled from last year (322 in 2023 compared to 180 in 2022). At a national level, the Netherlands and Finland both increased the duration of and rate of pay for joint parental leave, and Japan introduced leave earmarked for fathers to encourage take-up. In countries with limited or no statutory leave, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S., some companies are stepping up to offer more generous parental leave than required by law.
Companies in countries with strong legislation on gender equality perform better. The best markets for corporate gender equality are France, Spain, Italy, Norway, the UK, and Australia; in contrast, the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong have the lowest average scores globally.
The financial sector is the second best performing sector and performs especially well on transparency and disclosures
The number of companies with an anti-sexual harassment policy is up to 60%, compared with 53% in 2022 and 49% in 2021.
Now the depressing part (from that very same report):
A minority of 6% of companies globally have a female CEO, 15% have a female CFO, and 8% have a female chair of the board. Looking at representation from the top down, women represent 28% of board members, 20% of executives, 26% of senior management, and 38% of the total workforce. Gender balance across a company is rare, with only 18 companies globally achieving 40-60% of women at all levels (board, executive, management, and workforce). In some markets, the glass ceiling between the workforce and executive positions remains pervasive, most notably in Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Only 22% of companies globally publish their gender pay gap (up from 17% in 2022 and 15% in 2021), and less than 1% of companies in the world have closed the gender pay gap.
Community corner
If you thought the slide back into open misogyny was restricted to non-Western countries, let me thank our community member Iris Bloem, for sending this doozy of a story across!
This one comes courtesy of the world’s 5th happiest country, Netherlands. If you don’t understand Dutch - Irish points out the headline is enough explanation that misogyny alive and kicking. What’s the furore? Current housing minister (former health minister) of the Netherlands Hugo de Jonge suggesting a young woman’s answer to the country’s housing crisis was to find herself a “rich friend”:
De Jonge tegen vrouw die koophuis niet kan betalen: 'Al aan een rijke vriend gedacht?'
Ophef om een opmerking van minister Hugo de Jonge (Wonen), die in Den Haag een petitie in ontvangst nam en daarbij de 25-jarige single Frederieke van advies diende. Die wil een huis kopen, maar kan dat in haar eentje niet betalen: starters op de woningmarkt zitten klem. (Story at rtlnieuws)
Here is the google translation (of the gist) of that story (no Maithreyi bias here)
De Jonge to woman who cannot afford to buy a house: 'Have you thought of a rich friend yet?'
There was a commotion about a remark from Minister Hugo de Jonge (Housing), who received a petition in The Hague and advised the 25-year-old single Frederieke. She wants to buy a house, but cannot afford it on her own: starters on the housing market are stuck.