NEW YORK : The recently released Bloomberg Gender Equality Index (GEI) 2022 that measures corporate entities on their gender parity policies and actions gave a very positive outlook on the way environmental, social, governance (ESG) policies across the world are being implemented. The number of companies who voluntarily disclosed their data on these parameters to be reviewed increased by more than 20% from last year.
A total of 418 companies from 45 countries whose total market value amounts to US$ 16 trillion were a part of this analysis. The GEI compares the standing of the participating organisations in terms of investing in women in the workplace, the supply chain, and the communities in which they operate. The metrics used in the index include female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, anti-sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand.
“The changing nature of work due to the pandemic has highlighted the importance of addressing gender equality issues in a rapidly-evolving global workforce,” said Peter T. Grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg. He asserted that they do not assign ranks to the participating companies, but use the data collected as an indication of whether or not the world is progressing in the right direction in terms of gender parity. “GEI recognizes companies that are maintaining a strong focus on providing an inclusive work environment that supports the evolving needs of employees and retains the competitive strengths gained through gender diversity, which is increasingly critical in this challenging business environment,” he added.
Some revelations made by the insights were:
- At entry level, the total number of female employees was 50%, which reduced to 38% at the senior management level, 23% at executive level and only 7% were CEOs. Overall, women made up 43% of the workforce.
- Companies with a female CEO have higher representation of women at all levels.
- On average, women accounted for 44% of promotions during the fiscal year, while they also accounted for 41% of company exits.
- 31% of all board members in participating companies were women
- 31 out of the 418 companies have a female CEO or equivalent
- Average mean gender pay gap was 19, which was a slight improvement from last year’s 21
- The average mean gender pay gap for companies without a female CEO was 20, while the average mean gender pay gap for companies with a female CEO was 14.
All these pointers indicate that organisations around the world are working on imbibing the diversity and inclusion practices into their work culture. “While significant improvements in disclosure and data excellence drove the 2022 GEI threshold to a new high watermark, inclusion still increased by 10%. There’s much work yet to be done, but this is a trend we can all celebrate,” said Sabina Mehmood, the product manager for GEI.
