Business must shape a gender equal world

Today as we celebrate women worldwide, we acknowledge the achievements we have made over the past years, but more importantly, the sense of urgency, as business leaders which we need to bring to create a workplace which empowers women and enables them to thrive, writes Roberto Marques.

According to the World Economic Forum, the economic gender gap will take 268 years to close, and the overall gender gap will take an estimated 136 yearsⁱ. International Women’s Day marks a moment to honor the contribution of women to the workforce, but also to society at large. At the same time, it is a day to reflect on what can be done to accelerate change towards a gender equal world.

As the business community we have a responsibility to advance and show progress, and given our central role in many women’s lives, we certainly have a significant role to play. With women representing only 8.1% of Fortune 500 CEOsⁱⁱ, now is the time for us to come together as a collective and step up to change this unfair and unhealthy reality. Clear and measurable targets, making gender equality a priority, must be established. Women’s voices must be heard in the workplace, and their work must be valued and respected. Policies, performance reviews, promotions, and pay have to offer women a path to job satisfaction, success, job retention, and leadership.

It’s not only the right thing to do, but it is also wise. Studies consistently show companies that actively promote women and have more women in senior management do better financially. A better world for women is a better world for all.

Last yearⁱⁱⁱ, Credit Suisse surveyed 3,000 companies worldwide, and found that organizations where women hold at least 20% of management positions outperformed those with fewer female managers for nearly a decade. The bank calls this the “diversity premium.” McKinsey finds that companies with gender-balanced executive teams are 25% more likely to enjoy above-average profitability^iv, and Morgan Stanley argues that gender diversity leads to better returns for investors^v. So, businesses lag and society suffers when women are left behind.

Despite this, the past two years have served as a stark reminder of persisting inequality in the workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic hit women harder than men, with the number of women who say they have thought of leaving the workforce jumping dramatically. A UK Ipsos poll conducted in the first year of the pandemic found that nearly half of all women with children at home said they spent more than five hours each day managing childcare^vi.

Take-up of paternity leave is a case in point. Paternity leave has the potential to alleviate the disproportionate burden of parental and other caretaker duties which fall on women. Yet many men decline it for fear of being perceived as not taking their job seriously. Aggregate data from the WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool shows that only 16% of companies provide incentives that encourage men to take paternity leave^vii, leaving women to bear the brunt of the work.

The time has come for us to put these fears to rest and to lead by example. This means encouraging the use of full entitlements to paternity leave, attending school meetings, and taking time off work to look after a sick child or elderly relative.

As a family of four purpose driven businesses – Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop – Natura &Co is committed to driving sustainable growth and generating positive impact. For 135 years, Avon has worked to promote women’s causes. Our relationship selling model provides women an alternative to the traditional 9-5 work life, establishing and running their own businesses in their own way, built around their life stages, careers and ambitions, to achieve financial independence.

We are proud to be a patron of the UN Global Compact Target Gender Equality and as are result of our involvement, in 2020 we were proud to share public and measurable targets as well as performance indicators to promote women’s representation and leadership in our sustainability vision that we called Commitment to Life. In creating our social goals within this Vision, we took inspiration from the seven Women’s Empowerment Principles, a co-initiative between the UN Global Compact and UN Women, and set specific targets: equal representation with 50% women on our board and senior team by 2023; equitable pay by closing the gender gap by 2023; and ensuring the living wage or above for everyone at Natura &Co by the end of 2023.

We have a responsibility to drive change with the hope that in the future, we will celebrate more and more societal advances to achieve gender equality. No company can move the needle alone. The systemic change needed to achieve to a truly gender equal world will require inclusive collaboration between all actors. Today I call on fellow business leaders to join the movement towards a better world for women, which in turn will become a better world for all.

Roberto Marques is Executive Chairman and Group CEO of Natura &Co and serves on the Board of the United Nations Global Compact
 

ⁱ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/04/136-years-is-the-estimated-journey-time-to-gender-equality/
ⁱⁱ https://fortune.com/2021/06/02/female-ceos-fortune-500-2021-women-ceo-list-roz-brewer-walgreens-karen-lynch-cvs-thasunda-brown-duckett-tiaa/
ⁱⁱⁱ https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/studies-publications.html
^iv https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
^v https://www.morganstanley.com/access/gender-diversity
^vi https://data.unwomen.org/features/covid-19-pandemic-has-increased-care-burden-how-much-0
^vii https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-learnings-leading-global-gender-equality-initiative-resch/