| dc.description.abstract | International Women’s Day 2019 marks yet another year of continued steps to improve the representation and welfare of women in the world of work. From the first world leader taking maternity leave, to the overwhelming response to #metoo, working women everywhere are increasingly asserting their right to be respected and treated fairly at work. However, women in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) still face significant challenges and inequalities in the workplace. The pay gap persists and women are still under-represented in corporate leadership, with women accounting for only one-in-five of board seats in the largest publicly-listed companies in the OECD. Clearly, there is still a long way to go before we can achieve a gender-equal workplace. The Women in Work Index shows that while progress continues to be made across 33 OECD countries, the pace of progress is slow. But there is a huge prize at stake from accelerating progress: Improving female participation in work across the OECD could boost OECD GDP by US6trillion,while closing the gender pay gap could boost GDP by US2 trillion. Iceland and Sweden continue to occupy the top two positions on the Index while New Zealand moves up one place to round off the top three. The UK made some small gains, moving up from 14th to 13th position this year, but its progress is held back by a stubbornly persistent gender pay gap, which will require concerted government policy and business action to address. We also find significant variation in regional performance on the Index. Faster growing regions such as London, tend to have made the biggest improvements in their Index scores since 2010. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales outperformed most English regions, likely due to the higher share of public sector employment in these regions that tend to have smaller pay gaps and better female representation at senior levels. These trends suggest that underlying structural factors and the make-up of each region’s economic activity can influence female economic opportunity. While the focus of the Index is on the OECD, we should not underestimate the contribution that China and India – the two most populous nations in the world – have made in economically empowering millions of women. However, despite considerable progress being made in both countries, there is room for further improvement in female employment prospects. Had they both been included in the Index, China would have placed in between Slovakia (26th place) and Japan (27th place), while India would have placed last, after Korea (33th place). These challenges will take time to address, but both economic powerhouses could reap significant gains from promoting gender equality. Closing the gender pay gap could result in gains of more than US2 trillion, while improving female participation in the workforce could result in gains of US7.5 trillion, more than the gains to the OECD combined. While governments are responsible for shaping a policy environment that supports gender equality and diversity in the workplace, it is up to organisations and employers to put this into practice. However, real and effective change remains elusive for many. In keeping with the theme of this year’s report – Turning Policies into Effective Action – we discuss how effective change within organisations requires strategic clarity, accountability, measurability and transparency. Please do get in touch if you have further questions or comments about this study, or to discuss how we can help your organisation address these issues. | en_US |
