The presence of women in leadership positions increases the profitability of companies by 15% and drives innovation; however, in the boards of directors only 11% of seats they are busy with them.
This is how it is defined by the study “Women in companies: drivers of change”, carried out by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco) in collaboration with the Center for Research on Women in Senior Management (CIMAD) of the Pan-American Institute of Senior Management of Business Business School.
The report that analyzed 182 companies in the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Institutional Stock Exchange, found that in the boards of directors there is one woman for every 10 members.
Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development highlight that Mexico is the fourth country with the lowest presence of women on boards stocks, only above Korea, Estonia and Hungary, which have 9% respectively. While Iceland (47%), France (45%), Spain (33%) and Canada (33%) have a higher representation of women.
“If we continue like this, until year 257 we would talk about paritythat is, having half as many men and women on the board of directors”, highlighted Yvette Mucharraz, director of CIMAD.
He specified that in the stock market, only 11% of the directors are women, while in the debt market it increases to 13%; however, in tips independent is 9 percent.
Meanwhile, the financial sector is the one with the highest presence of women with 43%, in services and health only 4%, while in public services there are no women on the boards.
Likewise, the participation of women decreases as the hierarchical level increases, because 12% of management positions in the stock market are occupied by women, of this percentage 21% are in legal management, 8% in finance and 10% in general management.
How to increase the participation of women?
Although the incorporation of women in advisory and management positions is low, there are companies that have implemented diversity policies. The main one is continuous training with courses on gender equality and to improve personal skills.
However, only 37% report flexible schedule policies, which limits women in their professional career. Fátima Masse, director of the Imco Inclusive Society, recommends offering “flexibility to choose work scheduleswork for results, have shorter hours and increase paternity policies, so that men participate more in unpaid tasks”.
It also suggests strengthening regulations with a gender perspective in companies and including indicators such as the composition of the workforce by hierarchical level, as well as reporting on inclusion policies.
