Women bring economic benefits to the workplace

The benefits of women in the workplace are even greater than originally thought, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund. Skills Portal reports that if countries with low gender equality improved their equality ratings, they could see their economies grow by an average of 35% (SA was ranked 19th in terms of the 2018 global equality ranking scale). Recognising the importance of talents that women can bring to the workplace, IMF head Christine Lagarde points out that the world economy would also be less prone to financial collapse with more women in senior roles. Women bring new skills to the workplace, and help to boost productivity as well as the size of the workforce. The report says 88% of countries worldwide have restrictions against women in the workplace embedded in their Constitutions or laws. Some forbid women from doing specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, and there are 18 countries where women can be legally prevented from working.

An online employee referral recruitment platform has analysed the data from the top 25 accountancy firms in the UK and found that women make up just a quarter of the executive boards, reports HR News. Real Links also discovered that only two of the top 25 firms’ boards are nearly equal in the gender split and a further six boards were only one third women. Four executive boards had no women on them at all. Sam Davies, CEO and co-founder of Real Links, said: ‘While statistics show that the accounting industry has a relatively even split between men and women, it seems women are still struggling to climb to the top of their firms.’