Mclaren Consultancy

What is gender equality?

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According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, gender equality is achieved when people are able to access and enjoy the same rewards, resources and opportunities regardless of gender. The aim of gender equality is to provide to the entire workforce without distinctions, equal opportunities and outcomes. The factors included in the term gender equality are:

-          An equal pay for work of equal or comparable value

-          A removal of barriers to the full and equal participation of women

-          An equal access to all sectors regardless the gender

-          The elimination of discrimination according to the gender

 

Why is it unbalanced?

At least, 3 factors can explain this divergence. As we have seen what is meant by gender equality, the first point which is directly linked to it is the gender wage gap. The second point that we can observe is that women tend more to work in the informal sector where the earnings are lower. Lastly, the gender inequality is also strongly linked to the inequality of opportunities. The access to finance, health and education services prevails in some countries and also during history.

Another reason that explains this fact is about the level of development of countries. According to the development, relevant dimensions of gender inequality vary. With the use of the United Nation’s Gender Inequality Index, which captures both gender inequality in outcomes and in opportunities, it is observable that for the most developed countries, the income inequality is coming mainly from the gender gaps in labor force participation. For emerging countries and low-income countries, it is coming from another factor which is the inequality in accessing to health and education.

Attaining the gender equality is not only a matter of fairness or because it is “the right thing to do”. Of course it is. But reaching this gender balance has also a lot more positive outcomes on all sides: companies, employees and society.

 

What are the other positive outcomes of gender equality and why is it making money?

-          Improves the national productivity and economic growth

-          Increases the organizational performance

-          Enhances the ability of companies to attract talent and retain employees

-          Enhances the organizational reputation.

All these outcomes incur some financial benefits for the companies. According to a McKinsey’s research “if women were to participate in the economy identically to men, they could add as much as $28 trillion or 26 percent to annual global GDP in 2025. This is roughly the combined size of the economies of the United States and China today.” If the national productivity and the context is about economic growth, the environment is most likely to be beneficial to companies to generate revenue. Employees’ retention reduces the turnover cost and that is beneficial. Finally, the ethic and fairness of the organization is at stake here, and it has been shown that the CSR (corporate social responsibility) is financially profitable.