Whenever over-generalizations are made one must always try to better understand with data and parameters of what you are trying to generalize. Are female CEO’s better? An interesting question but very generalized. Let’s look at some data; the HR professional may find interesting.
The research shows that females may be better than male CEO’s in a number of business categories. Forbes magazine research shows that companies that have female CEO’s are better in the following categories:
- Meeting their financial targets
- A more desirable place to work
- And greater employee engagement
Click here to read about details of the benefits of female CEO’s.
Having success in business and an enjoyable place to work seem to be the main business goals of any HR department. Improving ones organization may not be as much about HR as it is about leadership.
Peakon, a HR research organization that measures a variety of organizational metrics did not find any categories where male CEO’s beat the performance of female CEO’s. That is a very positive statement about the success of female CEO’s.
However, in reality females make up a very small portion of CEO’s in Canada. In fact, as of July 2018, none of the top companies listed on the TSX 60 had a female CEO, and less than 8 percent of females were even on the senior management team of those company’s.
Discussion Question
Developing a diversity policy is the first step at closing the workplace gender gap. Research organization in Canada that have diversity policy’s review three specific policies. Identity the one that you think is the most effective at improving diversity and state why you think it is?