The 2019 edition of the CS Gender 3000 report looks at the link between gender diversity and superior company performance and how this is evolving over time.
To drive real change and increase gender diversity in business, we all need access to reliable and comprehensive data. The Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI) has been researching gender diversity within the governance and executive leadership teams of companies since 2012. As we revisit this topic in 2019, there are heightened expectations from clients, investors, regulators, employees and other stakeholders around Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors and how we work together to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With this backdrop, we see our research as a unique and important contribution to the discus- sion on gender diversity and finding ways to makeprogress. Our research approach has allowed us to not only conduct a global analysis of board diversity, but also assess the roles of women in and around the C-Suite, having built out the gender mix of the executive teams of over 3,000 companies stretching across 56 countries and comprising 30,000 executive positions; the CS Gender 3000.
Now to what we found through the research. While we see increasing gender diversity in the boardroom, which has encouragingly doubled during the decade, it is a different story for senior executive positions, where progress has lagged. Barely 5% of the CS Gender 3000 companies have female CEOs and less than 15% have female CFOs. Regionally, North America and APAC reflect greater management diversity than we see in Europe. Asian economies have propor- tionally the most CEOs and CFOs.
In our view, a consideration of diversity in execu- tive management as well as the boardroom is of key importance to really assess the impact of en-hanced diversity in the workplace and its specific relevance for shareholders. Hence, we look to see if any visible correlation exists between metrics of management diversity and share-price perfor- mance. As we examine share-price performance and the relative profitability across companies, we find that companies with more women in senior management do appear to yield superior returns.
While we isolate gender diversity as a differentiat- ing characteristic of companies in our analysis, we do not assert cause and effect. Share prices are always a function of a company’s business model and the level and variability of the returns it gener- ates. How, and if, diversity contributes to strategic decision-making to deliver these outcomes is the key rather than diversity per se.
Our 2019 edition presents new themes and analysis complementing our prior work. We focus on the business model of family businesses, which has been a rich seam of prior research from the CSRI. Here we put a spotlight on businesses founded by women or with women in senior lead- ership roles. Among our findings, we see where women are in leadership roles, there is a greater consciousness of ESG factors and the UN SDGs.
Finally, we conduct a macro and demographic assessment of the labor-market dynamics for women and the frictions at work that potentially impact career progression, particularly where managerial roles are concerned. Among the policies and practices that need addressing to enhance mobility and flexibility is the gender pay gap. We provide a global depiction of the implica- tions and drivers of the gender pay gap.
We hope that our findings prove valuable and wish you an insightful and enjoyable read.
Urs Rohner
Chairman of the Board of Directors Credit Suisse Group AG
Iris Bohnet
Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Harvard University Member of the Board of Directors Credit Suisse Group AG