The Silver Lining: Women on Boards and Tackling Climate Change
An interesting phenomenon is underway. In concert with the global pandemic taking hold, scientists are increasingly noting the improvement in air quality and reduction in pollution on a global scale. Climate change, and the positive impact has become a better news story to the Covid-19 situation. Could this also translate to a good news story for women on Boards? As reported in the April 2020 Report on Business (Greener Pastures, by A. Davis), there is a positive correlation between corporate performance on environmental issues and having women on Boards. Not just any women, of course, but the female Directors on those specific Boards tended to have greater expertise in sustainability, and in general, women tend to bring a broader lens than corporate objectives to the table. Could this be a Trojan horse for influencing gender parity at the Board level?
That would be welcome news, given the other (unsurprising) findings reported by the Editor in the same issue. Women on Canadian Boards are still woefully under-represented, with little increase year over year. It took quota regulations in California to finally eradicate all male Boards on the S&P 500 at the end of 2019. And, if one considers senior executive roles as a primary preparation and feeding ground for Board roles, the news is not uplifting. According to Rosenzweig & Co, in Canada, women held 8% of senior executive roles in large companies in 2019, dropping from 10% in the previous year, and only reflecting a 3% improvement since 2006. Of 500 of the largest publicly traded organizations in Canada, there were only 73 in which women held an average of 44% of executive roles.
We can now expand the mantra that having women on Boards is good for business, to also include it is good for the environment. We need to keep our foot on the pedal, continue to build the foundation by elevating women in leadership, and create the blue print for enabling their Board journeys.
#Womeninleadership #womenonboards #esg