Gender diversity: three reasons to get more women into senior roles

Mark Gibson: three reasons to promote diversity

Gender diversity is a subject those at the top of any organisation - public, private or not-for-profit - should take seriously. There is plenty of hard evidence to support the business case for diversity and it really matters for the performance of any organisation.

Understand your customers better by being representative of them:
For most organisations, customers or users will be representative of the wider UK population, which has roughly as many women as men and is ethnically diverse. It is easier to understand your customers if your own organisation reflects them in its leadership and workforce.

Don't miss out on talented employees:
Those who perform well at school and university are likely to do the same in the workplace. In fact, in education girls do rather better than boys. So any organisation that doesn't offer a work environment to appeal to the best performers from our education system is doing damage to itself. There are many talented working people who expect employers to offer terms and conditions friendly to a diverse workforce - if your organisation doesn't offer them, it will miss out on its pick of the talent pool.

Don't risk the reputation of your organisation:
Organisations that are unrepresentative in terms of their workforce find it difficult to create the right impression. A lack of gender diversity can make an organisation look out of touch, which risks losing customers and missing out on talented employees.

Sometimes gender diversity is regarded as a fluffy subject - nice to have once the real issues have been dealt with. This is wrong. Think of it in hard business terms and I think you too will see it as core to your organisation's success.

Ursula Brennan: We've come a long way but we're not complacent

We've come a long way since the days of unequal pay and when women working in the civil service were required to resign once they were married.

Over the past decade, the number of women in the senior civil service has increased by over 40%. We are now better at recognising and developing talented women, and have revolutionised flexible working arrangements.

We are not complacent about the progress we have made and recognise that there is still much to be done. But the benefits of having a diverse leadership that accurately reflects society – across all sectors – are there for all to see.  Without diversity, organisations risk groupthink and can miss ideas and opportunities for improvement. 

On 5 December the Whitehall & Industry Group is holding its first conference on why gender diversity matters.

Mark Gibson is chief executive of the Whitehall & Industry Group,an independent, non-lobbying charity that promotes mutual understanding between private, public and not-for-profit organisations. Ursula Brennan is permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice.

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