Your 3-step plan towards Gender Mainstreaming

Incorporating gender perspectives into all business policies and strategies can leverage a potential advantage: enhancing corporate reputation, attracting top talent, driving innovation, and improving financial performance. A commitment to gender equality can tap into a potential $172 trillion “gender dividend” globally, by closing economic gender gaps (source). While it may not be the desired driver to implement gender mainstreaming approaches, you can’t deny the promising quality boost in working-life experience for employees, or the bottom line. Here’s a concise three-step plan to achieve improved gender equality and drive economic success:

1. Develop a strategy that focuses on where you can make a meaningful impact
   Integrating gender equality elements into your existing business strategy by setting clear, measurable goals, including impact KPIs, helps to achieve balanced leadership and address the gender pay gap. Ensure that all policies, including those related to parental leave and caregiving, are gender-neutral and inclusive – dads need time off too. Additionally, consider extending maternity leave, as current US laws are less comprehensive compared to European standards. Not all pregnant employees are eligible due to specific legal and health-related requirements (source). Retaining mothers returning from maternity leave reduces the otherwise high costs of recruitment to replace this talent pool (Careers After Babies 2022). Additionally, studies show that companies with diverse executive teams are 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability (source). Flexible working arrangements and mentorship programs for women can also significantly boost your company’s appeal to top talent. (Although we’d question why these mentorship programs are only for women – and recommend your business offer such program to all employees as part of their career development programmes, with a look at how to best serve the different employee subgroups, including women).

2. Utilise data-driven insights to identify and close gaps
   Data-driven insights enable businesses to track progress, engage stakeholders, and make informed decisions for both equality and economic success (source). You’ll need accurate information here, so collecting, verifying and analysing gender-sensitive data is crucial as a basis for identifying gender-based inequalities. Gender-sensitive data refers to information that highlights differences and disparities between genders, such as pay gaps, promotion rates, and representation in leadership roles. Regular audits help businesses understand the gender aspects of their workforce. Yes, we mean ask your people and find out what is essential to meet their needs – helping people feel seen and heard makes a difference (source). For example, companies that implement gender equality measures see a 10% increase in employee retention rates, boosting productivity and reducing costs (source). One agricultural company found women underrepresented in leadership roles. If that sounds like your organization, you might want to ask yourself: “why are there not more women in leadership in my company?”. By implementing targeted leadership training and mentorship programs, companies increased female representation in management by 20% over two years, improving decision-making efficiency and overall productivity by 15% (source).
   
   
3. Report findings to ensure transparency and drive engagement
   Demonstrating transparency and accountability by regularly publishing your findings and progress shows that you’re living desired change. Engage with employees, investors, and the broader community to foster a collaborative approach. For instance, a study by Harvard Business Review found that companies with high levels of transparency are 30% more likely to achieve their organizational goals (source). When it comes to keeping talent, companies that report transparently on their gender equality initiatives often see a 20% increase in employee engagement and retention rates (source). Starting with your organization is a great first step, yet if you want to encourage an industry shift, then consider how to establish partnerships with other businesses, governments, and NGOs as a constructive step to support broader gender equality initiatives, amplifying efforts and driving systemic change. For instance, the partnership between Unilever and UN Women has not only advanced gender equality within the company but also contributed to a 15% increase in productivity and a 10% rise in market share in regions where these initiatives were prominently implemented (source).

Achieving Results with Expert Guidance – our next steps together 

Events like the OECD Forum on Gender Equality, the Diversity Conference of the Charta der Vielfalt and FAO’s gender equality in agrifood systems, are helping us to gain valuable insights while establishing key connections that help us better understand the way the business landscape is shifting in terms of gender balance and where we need to be. By participating, we gain deeper insights into the benefits and challenges that gender equality initiatives present for our clients. Turning up underscores our commitment to gender equality and keeps us at the forefront of best practices and innovative strategies in this field. Our insights on the latest trends and updates in policies and initiatives through connecting and collaborating mean we can further provide the most effective strategies that meet our clients’ diversity, equity, inclusion and business needs.