International women’s day gives us all the opportunity to think about the roles and rights of women. At BRODIE, we’re constantly working to raise awareness of gender inequalities and celebrate the successes relating to women in business and society. 

There have been some genuine examples of progress over the last decade, including increasing transparency around the gender pay gap and multi-stakeholder efforts to reduce it. The following points are indicative of a more sobering reality: 

1. A recent study by The World Bank found that only six countries give women equal legal work rights with men, and a quarter of companies and public sector bodies in the UK have a pay gap of more than 20% in favour of men 

2. Within retail supply chains, women still make up the majority of low-paid roles 

3. Statistics are similarly shocking for women trying to (re)enter the workforce, with a recent US study finding that having a child could set back their earnings by 31%. 

This blog outlines some of the remaining challenges for women in the workplace and considers the role of policy and regulation, businesses engagement with supply chains, and outreach to consumers in not only continuing, but accelerating, progress for women.

1. Leveraging Legislation

A number of countries have passed laws that call for gender equality on boards, for example Norway, Iceland, Spain and France all require women to comprise at least 40% of boards at publicly listed companies. Most recently, California passed a law requiring locally headquartered, publicly traded companies to have at least one female director by 2020. Additionally, institutional investors accounting for 80% of listed companies are putting pressure on firms to address gender diversity on boards in 2020. 

Beyond the board room, businesses are making forays into improving their practice in areas of the workplace where women have not previously been prioritised. Currently only 29% of global organisations offer paternity leave. In response, the UK government recently launched a campaign to promote the benefits of fathers taking a greater share in caring duties during the first year of their child’s life, and Finland recently announced plans to extend paternity leave to seven months. Encouraging men to take time off enables women to experience other roles and allows both genders to continue their career progression – a recent PwC survey found that 48% of new mothers feel overlooked for career advancement because they had children.

Women on Boards and paternity leave are just two examples representative of the many struggles women face at work, others areas include equal pay, harassment and childcare. Developing legislation and corporate policy response, while no doubt positive, are insufficient on their own and there is a pressing need for companies to move beyond tokenism and encourage real systematic change.

Changing corporate impact: 

• In order to hold your company to account, there needs to be at least one women’s voice on the board 

• Drive accountability throughout the business by setting time-bound targets that are quantifiable and embedded in existing frameworks [Accenture, PepsiCo, VF Corp]

• Demonstrate accountability through action by integrating performance on targets into compensation at the individual and team levels

2. Keeping Supply Front of Mind

Gender inequality is also a persistent challenge in certain supply chains. Within retail, women are particularly vulnerable to low wage levels due to gender inequality. At least 190 million women are known to work in global supply chains, and in many countries including Pakistan non-compliance to minimum wages can be as high as 87% for women. Collaborative initiatives such as The HER Project are working to target a wide range of issues relating to women working in global supply chains. Through workplace-based interventions on health, financial inclusion and gender equality, the project equips companies with the expertise to implement long-term changes. Similarly, the Clean Clothes Campaign is committed to improving the lives and working conditions of those in the global garment and sportswear industry, the vast majority of whom are women. Additionally, the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles provide businesses with the tools needed to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. 

Company’s own efforts to support women in their supply chains are becoming more progressive, too. GAP’s PACE (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement) program upskills women by providing them with communication, problem-solving, time management, and hygiene skills. By 2016, PACE had reached 68,000 women in 12 countries, and is predicted to touch 1 million women and girls by 2020. Similarly, Inditex’s collaborative project has improved the health of over 6,733 women workers in Morocco. The adoption and success of these programs and collaborative initiatives is indicative of the increasing momentum of positive change taking place around women in the supply chain. 

Creating change for people: 

• Be held accountable by others by investing in partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives that have their own standards and focus on systematic change in the supply chain [Diageo, Natwest]

• Hold others to account by creating and implementing supplier guidelines that prohibit discrimination, and ensure they are accessible to relevant stakeholders, and;

• create a recruitment policy that guards against harassment and abuse [ANZ]

3. The Power of Positive Communication

The world’s largest brands have an amazing opportunity to effect change by using their voice to advocate for systematic equality. Through creatively thought out campaigns some brands are already Nike’s Dream Crazier campaign confronts the obstacles faced by sportswomen and celebrates those whose persistence has enabled them to overcome systematically imposed limitations, and Always’ Like a Girl campaign has been working to turn the tide on how we perceive and define femininity since its launch in 2015 – the video gained over 90 million views and earned over 4.4 billion media impressions and 177,000 tweets in the first three months. Breaking stereotypes and rewriting the narrative on what’s normal, gender inclusive marketing campaigns are acting as a great conversation starter and catalyst for change in consumer behaviour. 

Catalysing changes in consumption: 

• Hold yourself accountable by spending your money in-line with your values both as a business and a consumer

• Help consumers hold themselves accountable by creating consumer-friendly communications that demonstrate trends of progress

• Help create accountability within other businesses by participating in panels that stimulate discussion around topics relating to gender equality [PayPal, Mastercard]

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