Ahead of International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8, the G12 group released a statement calling on businesses and public institutions to ensure gender diversity and equality. Tony McDonough reports
A powerful body of business organisations in the Liverpool city region is calling for local companies to step up their efforts to be more gender diverse.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8, the ‘G12’ released a statement calling on businesses and public institutions to ensure gender diversity and equality.
The group was formed in June 2015 and is a collaborative collection of leading business organisations comprised of social enterprise The Women’s Organisation, the CBI, Downtown in Business, the Federation of Small Business (FSB), the IoD, Liverpool BID Company, Professional Liverpool, and the Social Enterprise Network.
Good business sense
Michelle Helsby, vice chair of the IOD Liverpool, said: “Businesses can only benefit by ensuring there is equality and diversity within their workforce.
“Extensive research has been carried out repeatedly and we know that organisations with greater gender diversity outperform those with the least.
“It makes good sense for business and good sense for the economy, so in 2018 we really need to make a real effort in this area.”
‘Glacial pace’
The Women and Work Commission claims that unleashing women’s full potential and addressing gender imbalance within the workforce could be worth £23bn every year to UK businesses.
With company boards, panels and committees in mind, the G12 Group said it is particularly disappointed at the “glacial pace of progress”.
According to Opportunity Now, the gender campaign from Business in the Community, the percentage of women on FTSE boards is just 15.6%, but research has shown that companies with good numbers of women on their boards outperform those with no women, with 17% higher return on sales and a 54% higher return on capital.
Phil McCabe, development manager of FSB Merseyside, West Cheshire and Wigan: “In 2018, after years of glacial progress towards gender parity, it is not enough for companies to just be aware of these issues, they should actively be striving, strategising and working towards equal representation.”