Numerous studies from around the world demonstrate the importance of gender diversity. Companies with more women on their boards and in senior management have been shown to financially outperform companies with no women in top positions. The evidence goes beyond improved financial and market performance. Heterogenous teams are also better at generating new ideas and avoiding groupthink. There is a correlation between the presence of women in critical board committees (such as risk and audit) and a more responsible approach to governance issues. Gender-diverse boards allocate more effort to monitoring, including verifying the integrity of audit information and ensuring conflict of interest guidelines are adhered to. Lastly, reducing the gender gap in workforces will expand the available labor supply by tapping into underutilized female talent and potentially increase a country’s GDP.
Yet, progress has been slow toward more women joining company boards, despite a continuing rise in the number of educated and experienced female business leaders. Asia ranks 6th out of 7 regions for percentage of board seats held by women (7.8%) and percentage of board chairs that are women (2.6%). In this one-day workshop, an experienced facilitator will guide participants to discuss the current gender gap within their own organizations, highlight unconscious biases and stereotypes, and equip them with practical strategies, tools, and techniques to catalyze change within their own organizations