It’s International Women’s Day, and we want to take the opportunity to highlight the issue of women on corporate boards. Countless studies have demonstrated the links between business success and strong female leadership.
A report published by MSCI ESG in November 2015 shows that companies with women in decision making positions generated a Return on Equity of 10.1% versus 7.4% for those without. Companies with overly male boards also suffered far more governance-related problems than those with good representation.
A four year study of Australia’s top 500 listed companies found that there was a “positive association between female non-executives on board and firm financial performance.”
Put simply, more women on boards means more success.
WomenOnBoard – a Catalyst Initiative operating in Canada and the US promotes the appointment of women to corporate boards by selecting and pairing women with mentors and champions.
Women On Boards does a similar thing in the UK and Australia, helping to build the pool of female board members and role models by providing information, connections and encouragement to ensure more women are appointed to boards across all sectors.
AlmaLinks, as a network of top business professionals and executives, actively promotes these opportunities to our members. Many AlmaLinks members when they first join are in the throes of setting up exciting new ventures, and find the advice and guidance offered to them by our Network very impactful.
We aim to lead by example, and that’s why AlmaLinks has committed to a minimum target of 40% women in all our leadership structures from the local to the global level. We will monitor this target in each annual report and publish our results, along with steps we are taking to improve. Currently, women make up 36% of our global leaders, and head 5 out of 11 AlmaLinks chapters. By the end of 2016, we want to be exceeding these targets.
We believe in developing and promoting strong female business leaders, and as an organization that aims to develop success, we know that can only come with gender equality.
AlmaLinks is a window into the Israeli economy, and we believe in sharing the lessons from the Start-up Nation. Israel itself is a proud champion for empowerment of women and gender equality, and the global business community can learn much from Israel’s example.
It’s a strange fact that Israel has more female F-16 fighter pilots than Saudi Arabia has female drivers. From the first female Prime Minister in the region to the second female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, gender equality in Israel is part of the DNA of the State.
We can always do more, but right now we can make a start. Gender equality and developing a new generation of strong female corporate leaders is not just good for business, it’s who we are.
