to develop and promote strategies that transform corporate culture to assure that women of all races, cultures and backgrounds have equal shared leadership opportunity to advance into leadership.
The Paradigm for Parity coalition brings together current and former business leaders including senior executives and industry leaders dedicated to addressing the systemic barriers to advancement in the corporate sector.
Women’s representation among C-suite positions declined in 2023, the first year the representation declined in two decades.
Women represent 50.8% of the United States population. But they currently hold just 6% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies.
The 2023 global gender gap score stands at 68.4%. That means it will take 131 years to reach full parity.
The gap in representation is even wider for multicultural women, who make up 18% of entry level professionals, 7% of VPs and only 6% of C-Suite executives.
Companies that hire, retain, and promote women, support them in leadership roles, and seed gender parity throughout their ecosystems, do better in the market. They’re more profitable, competitive, and successful (Just Capital).
Companies with more than 30% women executives are more likely to outperform companies with smaller representations of women leaders (MCKINSEY)
Companies with more diverse management earned 38% more of their revenues, on average, from innovative products and services than companies with less diversity in management roles (CATALYST)
There is a positive correlation between increased gender diversity in leadership positions and greater returns on capital (CREDIT SUISSE)
Companies in the top quartile for executive team gender diversity are 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the bottom quartile (LEAN IN & MCKINSEY 2020)
Paradigm for Parity’s approach to advancing women in leadership is drawn from data-driven best practices in the corporate world. Through careful metrics, clear principles, and a strong 5-Point Action Plan, we give our coalition members a clear path to workplace parity.
Initiate unconscious bias training. Engage women and men at all levels, starting with the CEO and senior leadership. Ensure that your company leaders comprehend, own and address the conscious and unconscious biases that prevent women of all cultures, races and backgrounds from succeeding.
Set aspirational goals then measure to hold yourself and your senior team accountable. Communicate results to your wider organization
and board. Expect meaningful progress each year, with the aim of parity within 15 years. Paradigm for Parity has metrics and a survey
to measure and monitor representation progress. Share statistics with other leaders and consider publishing results over time.
Give women and men flexibility of where and how they work, whenever practical. Acknowledge the needs and expectations of
various generations as important talent pools. Find ways to work more flexibly to meet the needs of all employees. Create cultural
change so that working flexibly is embraced, and not an underused and over talked about benefit.
The belief that talent and hard work alone determine success is widely accepted, yet often misapplied, as biases shape our perceptions of performance and achievement. Women need career sponsors and access to networks of influence. Men, who are still the majority of leadership, have a critical role to play in advocating for women, both internally and in the wider corporate world. Look for the best within your organization and support them in succeeding by assigning each woman a sponsor.
