(91.1%); Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing United Kingdom, DEI programmes tend to prioritize (90.9%); and Supply Chain and Transportation 昀氀exibility on degree requirements for roles and (84.6%) – alongside sectors with a relatively recruitment, as well as on Employment Resource better representation of women, such as Financial Groups (ERGs). Services (84.3%); Education and Training (83.3%); and Care, Personal Services and Wellbeing (81.8%). The existence of DEI programmes alone is not The sectors that place lower emphasis on gender enough for meaningful progress. A recent study parity in their overall DEI efforts are Real Estate identi昀椀ed 昀椀ve success factors that DEI initiatives (61.5%) and Media, Entertainment and Sports with the highest impact for underrepresented 32 (60%). groups had in common. These are (1) a nuanced understanding of the root causes of There is further signi昀椀cant cross-national variation underrepresentation; (2) a meaningful de昀椀nition of in DEI efforts promoting gender inclusion in the success; (3) accountable and invested business workplace. According to the Future of Jobs Survey, leaders; (4) a solution designed for its speci昀椀c the countries where companies are particularly context; and (5) rigorous tracking and course committed to establishing a more gender-diverse correction. These factors must further be re昀椀ned workforce are Colombia, the Netherlands, Italy, and customized across industries and regional United Kingdom and Canada. In Colombia and the contexts. 2.8 Putting gender parity at the heart of economic recovery and transformation The 2022 edition of the Global Gender Gap Report And at an economy-wide level, gender parity is called attention to a post-pandemic crisis in the increasingly being recognized as critical for 昀椀nancial workforce: gender parity across key indicators stability and economic performance.34 was slipping, implying large-scale disruption of economic opportunities for women worldwide in Collective, coordinated and bold action by private- labour-market participation, in skilling, in wealth and public-sector leaders will be instrumental in 33 accumulation and in overall wellbeing. The accelerating progress towards gender parity and recovery from the shock and ensuing polycrisis igniting renewed growth and greater resilience. has been slow and, so far, incomplete, and the Beyond leadership representation, companies can current context, coupled with technological and engage in strategies to transform organizational climate change, risks causing further regression in culture, and design products and services to serve women’s economic empowerment. Not only are a broader range of consumers by making innovation millions of women and girls losing out on economic processes more inclusive. Impactful initiatives are access and opportunity, but these reversals also emerging at the frontier of business strategy and have wide-ranging consequences for the global government policy, yet adoption beyond the frontier economy. too often remains on the surface, is incomplete or altogether deprioritized. Government policy can Following a series of gradual but steady increases be better designed to increase women’s labour- in the share of women in leadership roles over force participation, wages, and 昀椀nancial and the past two decades, this share has edged up technology access, and improve care systems and to, on average, 33.7% in 2023 from 33.4% in representation in public-sector leadership. 2022 across public- and private-sector leadership roles. However, high-frequency data presented in Some governments are taking an equity and the report shows that hiring rates for women into inclusion lens to economic policy-making, with leadership positions across industries have been in recent gender mainstreaming efforts explicitly decline since mid-2022. recognizing gender parity as critical to economic growth and 昀椀nancial stability. A number of Increasing women’s economic participation and governments are implementing more gender equal achieving gender parity in leadership, in both approaches to increasing labour force participation, business and government, are two key levers for pay equity and health and safety standards, addressing broader gender gaps in households, preventing harassment and sexual violence at work. societies and economies. In addition, there are At the federal government level, progress can be multiple mechanisms that link gender parity with enabled through gender-responsive budgeting 昀椀rm-level and economic performance: a robust which has in recent years been pioneered and gender strategy is increasingly seen as essential expanded by a growing number of countries, to attracting the best talent and ensuring long-run including Sweden, India and Kenya. Further, economic performance, resilience and survival. governments are increasingly recognizing the Evidence on diversity in decision making shows that importance of investing in the care economy and a diverse group of leaders makes more fact-based taking steps to support it. They are implementing decisions that result in higher quality outcomes. policies such as expanding access to affordable Global Gender Gap Report 2023 57