The 20th century saw women gain more power in the workplace. But what are the economic, political and social consequences?
Few developments have had such far-reaching effects on the lives of men, women and children today than the rapid change in the status and role of women. Over the past 30 years, and for the first time in history, women have been working alongside men in the same jobs, at the same companies, with the same levels of education, the same qualifications and comparable ambitions.
Today, women represent most of the talent pool and much of the market. Needless to say, they have unprecedented economic influence. In America, for example, women make 80% of consumer purchasing decisions.
ECONOMIC REVOLUTION
Women’s mass arrival to the world of work in the 20th century is emerging as an economic revolution with enormous consequences. In developed countries, women are becoming central to labour market solutions to the combined challenges of an ageing workforce, falling birth rates and skill shortages. In the developing world, women’s economic participation is increasingly seen as the key to sustainable development.
There has never before been such a confluence of international attention given to the economic importance of women and the need to enable them to fulfil their potential. The position of women – in companies, countries and governments – is seen as a measure of health, maturity and economic viability. The World Economic Forum, which organises the influential Davos conference, created a Global Gender Gap Report in 2005, ranking 115 countries on how they scored in women’s education, health and participation in the economy and the political process.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has declared that, 'Gender equality strengthens long-term economic development'. In 2007, it set up a gender website to focus on 'the implications of [gender] inequalities for economic development and what can be done to develop policies for parity' (OECD website, 2007).
BOOSTING GDP
In a similar vein, the World Bank launched a Gender Action Plan (World Bank website) in 2007. Goldman Sachs, the leading investment bank, is one of those now using the term 'womenomics' to sum up the force that women represent as guarantors of growth. It points to the huge implications that closing the gap between male and female employment rates would have for the global economy, giving a powerful boost to GDP in Europe, the US and Japan.
'Encouraging more women into the labour force has been the single biggest driver of Eurozone’s labour market success, much more so than "conventional" labour market reforms,' it says.
"Reducing gender inequality further could play a key role in addressing the twin problems of population ageing and pension sustainability. Crucially, Goldman notes, female employment and fertility both tend to be higher in countries where it is relatively easy for women to work and have children" (Daly, 2007).
Governments are looking anxiously for solutions to the persistent undervaluing of women’s skills. Vladimír Špidla, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, points out that women have filled six million of the eight million jobs created in the European Union since 2000, and that 59% of university graduates are female. 'Women are driving job growth in Europe and helping us reach our economic targets,' he says. 'But they still face too many barriers to realising their full potential.'
UNDER-REPRESENTATION
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has pointed to women’s under-representation in top jobs, arguing that this must be corrected to help Europe become the world’s most dynamic economy. In the UK, a government-appointed commission on women and work has reported that the country could gain £23 billion – or two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) – by better harnessing women’s skills.
'Many women are working, day-in, day-out, far below their abilities and this waste of talent is a national outrage at a time when the UK is facing some of its strongest competition from around the globe,' said Baroness Margaret Prosser, who chaired the Women and Work Commission in 2006.
Gender is a business issue, not a 'women’s issue'. The under-use of women’s talent has an impact on the bottom line. Taking action to address this will require sustained courage and conviction from today’s corporate leadership. This is an opportunity that must not be missed. It is time for CEOs to get serious about sex.
NISSAN SURVEYS
Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and Nissan, says that Nissan is not responding as well as it could to the needs and expectations of most of its consumers. Addressing 500 of the world’s most powerful women at a self-styled 'Davos for women' conference in Deauville, France (Women’s Forum, 2006), he said that women directly make or influence two-thirds of car purchases in Japan.
Nissan conducted surveys which revealed that 80% of women buyers would prefer to have women salespeople in the showrooms – so would 50% of men. Yet today, Mr Ghosn acknowledges ruefully, that women represent only ten percent of salespeople in Japan and only 1.9% of Japanese car industry managers.
