March to Equality: On International Women’s Day, Korn Ferry is sharing some recent thought leadership on gender diversity and development of women leaders.
International Women’s Day is an event that celebrates women’s achievements and last year, the gender pay gap in Australia declined to its lowest level in 20 years. While this is great news, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency warns that there is still a lot of work to be done to close the gender gap. Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard cited at the Economic Times Women Forum last month: “Globally, women make up just 24% of national parliamentarians, 26% of news media leaders, 27% of judges, 25% of senior managers, 15% of corporate board members and just 9% of senior IT leaders,” she said. “In the last decade, the number of senior female managers has increased by just 1% and the number of women holding ministerial office in government increased by just 2% around the world.”
Read on for inspiration and advice on what companies can do to give more women access to better pay and career advancements.
Women CEO Speak
When roughly 94% of Fortune 1000 chief executive officers (CEOs) are men, what qualities drive the 6% who are women to the most elite reaches of corporate leadership? The Korn Ferry Institute began researching the careers of CEO women in US companies in 2017, followed by an Australian report extending that work. In Australia, we conducted interviews with 21 Australian women: current and former CEOs, as well as women who had experience heading up professional services firms, government departments, and universities—all CEO equivalent roles. We asked them about their career objectives, obstacles, motivations, and about their experience with boards. Sixteen also took an executive assessment, and we compared their results with Korn Ferry’s executive database.
Learn key findings and download the report:
Australian Women CEO Speak
USA Women CEO Speak
More than a pay gap
The most successful companies are those that attract, retain, and harness the potential of everyone who has the talent they are looking for, and not just those who fit the traditional template of what an ideal employee should be. The report exposes talent management deficiencies and how organisations can address them.
Equal Pay: Lessons from New Zealand
The small nation embarks on an ambitious goal to eliminate salary differences. Read.
Nike on Pay Equity: Just Pay It
In its race to address to pay equality, Nike announced it will raise salaries of more than 7,000 employees (about 10% of its global workforce) to ensure more competitive pay and to, in the company’s words “support a culture in which employees feel included and empowered.” Can others follow? Read
No gap at the Top
There are still far fewer women than men leading large corporations, but the women who are there are getting paid on equal, if not better, terms. Irv Becker, a Korn Ferry senior client partner and leader of the firm’s North American Executive Pay and Governance practice, spoke with both the Wall Street Journal and radio station KCBS about why women at the top of the corporate ladder have hit, and surpassed, pay parity. Watch the interview or listen to the conversation below.
