The topic of gender diversity within Companies’ top management teams is not new, and its relevance nowadays is supported by countless studies that reveal that Companies where management teams have greater balance between genders achieve better results and have higher growth and profitability.
Article by Margarida Barreto | Reading time 3 minutes
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What the numbers tell us
The evolution over the past years has been slow but positive. When taking into account the data from the World Economic Forum, the number of women in top leadership positions has been growing since 2015, particularly in the designated C-suite, where women’s representation has increase from 17% to 21%. Today, 44% of companies have at least 3 women in C-suite roles, whereas in 2015 this percentage was only 29%. Nevertheless, the total number of women in CEO positions in the biggest companies in the United States is still quite low – a mere 5%. According to a different study, in 2019 29% senior management roles where exercised by women, with 87% of companies having at least one woman in one of these positions.
In Portugal the trend is identical. According to the initial conclusions of the Project Women on Boards – Portugal, led by ISEG’s professor Sara Falcão Casaca, the number of women in administrative positions of listed companies has gradually increased, but Portugal is still among the group of countries with a lower number of women in administrative positions in the biggest companies listed in the European stock market. The percentage of women among administrators of listed companies is only 24,8%, which without disregarding the clear improvement, is still below the 27,8% average of the 28 countries of the European Union.
An analysis of D&B on the evolution of female participation in management positions between 2013 and 2019 has revealed that in Portugal only 30% of women occupy management positions. However, companies within the governmental sector register a female presence in management of 32,2%, which is higher than the 29,8% in private companies.
Cultural bias and social perception
This difference in gender among top management positions is well known and it has been a popular field for multiple studies, especially when most students who graduate from higher education are women and when, at least, half the working people in the world are also female. There are countless factors that contribute to the shortage of women in top management positions. For centuries there was a great cultural bias in relation to women and these stereotypes are hard to change. There are countless researchers that have shown that this unconscious bias has a crucial role in admission and promotion decisions, which later also contribute to having less women in leadership positions. However, one of the most important factors is related to innate characteristics in women, such as their levels of confidence and their ambition.
How to counter the trend
Taking this reality as a starting point, CIP decided to leave its comfort zone and invest in a pioneering initiative intended to boost the access of women to positions of greater responsibility, namely within companies’ administrative positions. Inspired and in close partnership with its Spanish counterpart, the Promova Project whose aim is to support the development and training of women, focused in increasing their presence in the top management of companies, will soon begin.
CIP believes that the Promova Project, formed by an Executive Education program developed in partnership with Nova SBE Executive Education throughout the extent of a year, and which includes a support to the development of the female participants through coaching and mentoring sessions, will surely contribute to a greater social equilibrium, promoting diversity in gender among leadership positions.
Even though I recognize how far we have evolved, regarding this topic, since my first professional experience, in 1988, as a member of a top management team, where for ten years I was the only female representative, I know a lot of women with the competences and the will to grow professionally who come across various obstacles to achieve it. But then I also know women, with the potential to grow and progress professionally to management positions and that, by choice, or conviction and perception of their incompatibility with other roles, don’t dare to even consider that possibility. And maybe it is here that the role of Promova is more relevant, giving Power to the participants to Want, as the real “Executive Program to Balance the Power”.
This initiative aims to identify and develop female talent with leadership potential and starts today at the Carcavelos Campus of Nova SBE.
The Promote Project is the result of Nova SBE's partnership with CIP - Confederação Empresarial de Portugal.
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