Global companies have made some progress to achieving workplace gender equality despite a still male-dominated upper echelon, a new Bloomberg study reveals.
The seventh annual Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) published last week found females represented about a third of board members on average among the 418 firms reporting data.
Just 7 per cent of women filled CEO roles in the GEI universe while 23 per cent held executive positions, which represents a marked year-on-year improvement, the Bloomberg report says.
“The GEI data for fiscal year 2020 has shown the highest increase in women in the executive suite in comparison to the previous fiscal year and this positively impacts female representation in the overall workforce,” the study says.
However, the in-depth GEI analysis – that feeds into broader Bloomberg environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores – found companies overall are making efforts to improve gender equality through recruitment practices, pay equity policies and a dedicated executive focus on the issue. For instance, over 70 per cent of firms in the GEI have appointed a chief diversity officer.
The latest GEI report has also seen a 10 per cent uptick in companies included in the index while firms based in Colombia, Pakistan, Peru and Uruguay entered the data tables for the first time.
Bloomberg compiles the GEI from a global dataset of listed companies with a market capitalisation of at least US$1 billion: the ASX-listed Xero is the only NZ-ish firm covered in the GEI while several Australian firms (mostly banks and insurers) also made the grade.
Patricia Torres, Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Solutions global head, says in a release: “Today’s business leaders have the opportunity to drive progress on gender equality for years to come.
“The GEI framework helps companies assess their progress relative to their peers, and in relation to their own goals. In turn, the GEI data gives investors a comprehensive dataset to help evaluate how best practices in gender equity are contributing to company performance across a variety of factors.”
Peter Grauer, Bloomberg chair, says the GEI adds further valuable data for investors as the importance of ESG factors grows exponentially.
“More than ever, stakeholders care about aligning their investments with their values,” Grauer says in the report. “Regulators are following suit. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the $38 trillion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assets under management in 2020 will grow to $53 trillion within five years, climbing to one-third of the projected total global assets of $140.5 trillion by 2025.”
And one global asset manager, the almost NZ$540 billion Aviva Investors, raised the ESG stakes for its investee companies last week in the latest annual letter from chief, Mark Versey.
In the missive sent to chairs of 1,500 companies in 30 countries, Versey says the manager would target four ESG engagement issues this year: climate change, biodiversity, human rights and executive pay.
“We acknowledge the magnitude of many of these challenges and will evaluate companies on the strength of their commitments and their ability to demonstrate progress over time,” he says in the letter. “However, we will hold boards and individual directors accountable where the pace of change does not reflect the urgency required.”
For example, Aviva says it will divest from a group of the 30 biggest carbon-emitters within the next one to three years if the companies fail to make progress on climate change targets.
“Companies must now turn their pledges into concrete and measurable plans of delivery,” Versey says in a statement. “Our letter sets out clear expectations as to how they should do this, and what those plans must address across climate impact, biodiversity and human rights.”