Women are still largely underrepresented at the head of Canadian organizations and companies, according to a recent report by the international consulting firm McKinsey.
Canadian women occupy on average only 30% of senior management positions. And if their rise to the head of workplaces is still long, that of people from diverse backgrounds is too.
“Even if Canada is better positioned than elsewhere in terms of diversity and inclusion, the situation still needs to be improved — but we can see that progress is being made very slowly,” notes Sandrine Devillard, senior partner at McKinsey Canada, who co-authored the report.
Efforts have been made in recent years, with the imposition of measures promoting inclusion, “but we should not rest on our laurels, because we are still very far from parity,” she notes.
In fact, parity exists above all at the first levels of organizations, we understand in the light of the report. On average, Canadian women represent 49% of positions, compared to 51% for their male counterparts. But as one climbs in the hierarchy, the share of women decreases… and parity disappears.
It is in the category of senior vice-presidents that we observe the greatest difference: men hold 75% of the positions. A notch higher, in senior management positions, the results are not rosier: 70% of these are attributed to men, and 30% to women.
“It’s even worse for women of color,” who make up just 6% of senior leadership positions in Canada, adds Ms.me Devillard. “We have known for a long time that when there are intersectionalities, that is to say when we combine degrees of diversity, it is very hard. And there, the data shows that the situation is alarming, ”she laments.
Women less often promoted
But why aren’t women and people of diversity making it to senior positions? Is it the fault of the lack of personnel from these groups? That doesn’t seem to be the case, judging by the data on the lower echelons. And it’s not for lack of ambition either, defends Sandrine Devillard.
“In fact, there is not a glass ceiling. There are several layers! And they are thick. They are found at every level of management,” explains Ms.me Devillard. “At all levels, we see disparities between the promotion of men and the promotion of women. For example, this year for 100 men promoted to the first level of management, 86 women are promoted. This means that women are more often stuck at each stage, ”underlines the expert.
One explanation, she says, is that women’s ‘different’ leadership style is often seen as a ‘lack’ of leadership.. Another reason also mentioned is that women are not always confident to reach management positions, for fear of being considered differently from their male colleagues, explains Ms.me Devillard.
Moreover, according to the McKinsey report, among executives, twice as many women as men report being cut off more than their colleagues. More than a third (36%) of female executives also report having seen their expertise questioned, compared to less than a quarter (23%) of men.
well-being at work
The pandemic has also weakened the well-being of employees in general, but even more that of women, testifies the McKinsey report. On average, more than 40% of Canadian women felt constantly exhausted, i.e. “in burnout”, compared to 33% of their male colleagues.
But if the pandemic has weighed heavier on the shoulders of women, they have at the same time managed to show more empathy for their teams than men have. Female managers, for example, offered more emotional support to their employees and inquired more often about their well-being in the past year.
It is one of the positive effects of having women in management positions, illustrates Sandrine Devillard, particularly in a context of labor shortage where organizations are competing for talent and trying to offer them the best. possible work environment.