The conference room was lit with rousing cheers and applause as the findings of Gender Diversity in Ghanaian Boardrooms report was unveiled on June 14, 2018 in Accra.
The source of the excitement wasn’t from the successful completion of the study but rather the findings.
The study carried out by the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) revealed better performing companies in Ghana tend to have more gender-balanced boards. Meaning organisations or companies with a balanced number of women and men in the boardroom perform better.
But the study was quick to add that most boards were not chaired by women neither do women chair board committees.
Although there’s been radical efforts to get Ghanaian women out there; business friendly environment for women, government’s entrepreneurship funds for women and scholarships packages targeted at young women, this report seemingly a success story at the surface reveals how existing discrimination is haunting women from climbing the professional ladder in various institutions ( be it government or private).
The study funded by the World Bank examined the determinant of board diversity (which factors drive diversity in boardrooms), chronicled the experiences of women on boards and took a rather sensitive turn to find out if there’s a business case or economic value of having women on boards.
72.15 percent of the boards studied had female representation, even though the ratio of females to males remained low. Additionally, one out of every 4 boards had no female representation.
Most women directors were non-executive directors as oppose being executive directors, according to the study.
It further noted that very few committees were chaired by women; even with that they are sourced from outside the company rather than women in the company moving through the ranks to become non-executive directors.
Although organisations are to have working gender polices, a chunk of the organisations surveyed had no policies on gender that will push women in managerial positions.
The study also made a strong case about the role of women on boards mentoring other women to the top as the study revealed that boards chaired by women had higher gender diversity compared to boards chaired by men
The crux of the matter is, companies with high performance tend to have high gender diversity and that is a strong business case for organisations to pull more women on their boards.
Researchers found women on boards as more cooperative, conscious, understanding and with integrity.
Hefty price to pay
But this feat comes with a price to pay.
Most women surveyed exhibited a sense of fulfilment when their views are respected by their male colleagues during boardroom meetings but they were quick to add that it’s very challenging to balance boardroom duties with family life.
Dr. Joyce Aryee, Management and Communication Consultant who served as the Chairperson at the launch weighed into the competence and qualification twist.
She explained that with regards to competence and qualification, there are many men who are incompetent and without qualification sitting on boards but unfortunately when it comes to getting women to the boardroom the bar is kicked up a notch.
“Of course we don’t want to put women on boards just because they are women. I’m sure if we had researched the qualifications of men, we may find that perhaps some factors rather than qualification put them on boards. So while it’s important to have women who are qualified I think we must not over stretch it.”
Pregnancy discrimination
Women across the world are often side-lined at the workplace when their pregnancy starts showing and sometimes extend to years after birth. Discrimination could be layoffs, demotion, suspension, unpaid leave and insensitivity towards their (pregnant women) health. These get in the way of women and often push them further down the career ladder.
“Women don’t get pregnant by themselves but when they do they carry the burden alone. It’s as if they did wrong by doing what they need to do to add to human capital of the nation. We must view young productive women from a very positive angle that indeed without them getting pregnant human capital will be low,” she said averred.
She further advocated for women friendly work environment that enables remote working.
“Part of making the workplace friendly is also recognising that these days you don’t have to be physically present at the workplace or office to be productive. We are talking about digitization and the use of internet because many people can work away from the office and be productive if not more productive.”
Organisations and decision makers were urged to establish child care facilities for women in their institution.
What is noteworthy is that all these cannot be achieved if men’s role in this is muted.
“It’s important to engage men in decision making positions so they can understand the need for gender diversity and enact policies to encourage young women to take charge,” one member from the panel said.
4 Takeaways from the study
Any progressive nation that needs to leapfrog must have women on boards, playing key decision making roles.
That most boards were not chaired by women came as no surprise
Boards that are diverse in experience, skills, gender, age and qualification have positive effect on the quality of governance.
The most common challenge women in boardroom face relates directly to family responsibilities.
By Pamela Ofori-Boateng/Business World Ghana/ Copyright 2018