Career choices

‘I read Confessions of a City Girl over a weekend in London after working with my clients – professional women in financial services – all week. This book was a highly entertaining and easy read that confirmed many of the issues experienced by my clients . . . and issues I have long suspected keep equality out of reach. For example, as she points out, “There appeared to be an entirely different pay scale for women and men’s bonuses . . . which are entirely discretionary and can be easily explained away by ‘the added value here’.

Gender equality was on the agenda at Davos. The World Economic Forum (WEF) imposed a gender quota - company delegations had to include at least one woman for every four men.

A Swiss foundation called The Gender Equality Project, which works with the WEF, announced the launch of the first global certification for assessing gender equality in the workplace at Davos. Attached is a link to the foundation: http://www.genderequalityproject.com/

Global businesses need inclusive leaders. In this context, two interesting studies come to mind:

The topic of diversity and inclusion is at the forefront again in financial and professional services organisations. The labour force is becoming increasingly diverse, and women often make up half of the workforce - but are underrepresented on boards.

The UK Corporate Governance Code stipulates explicitly that appointments to boards of directors should be made on merit, based on objective criteria and taking into account the benefits of diversity, which includes gender.

How does your company embrace diversity? We would love to hear your voice.