Equileap is an Amsterdam based organization that has been doing the best deep dive research and reporting on gender equity in the top global workplaces for several years now. Their research goes much further than just how many women sit on boards. Please take the time to look at this year's report. Do it for every girl and woman in your life. It will only take a few minutes.
Executive Summary
Gender equality seems to be gradually improving in the workplace since the launch of our first annual Global Report in 2017, with the average score of the top 100 companies globally increasing in the last year by 2 percentage points to 64%. Out of 3,702 companies researched, Norwegian bank DNB ranks number 1 this year with a score of 74%. Yet we are still far from reaching gender balance in the workplace.
A tiny minority of 10 companies globally achieved gender balance at all levels: board, executive, senior management and workforce. Companies tend to be significantly better at disclosing the make-up of their board and executive teams than their senior management and workforce. Disclosure is particularly low for gender pay gap information:
85% of companies globally do not publish any information on the differences between the salaries of male and female employees. And only 15 companies globally have closed their gender pay gap (i.e. published a mean, unadjusted gender pay gap of 3% or less, overall or in bands).
When it comes to paid parental leave, motherhood is still widely seen as a burden to employers rather than a competitive advantage. In many countries, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the U.S., there is limited or no paid parental leave from the state. However, some companies are stepping in to fill the gap and disclosing the policy they offer to employees. In countries where statutory paid parental leave is higher, mostly in continental Europe, companies tend not to be so forthcoming.
Despite the MeToo movement, half of companies (51%) globally still did not publish an anti-sexual harassment policy in 2020. Some countries stood out though for company publication: Spain was the top performer, followed by France, Italy and Canada. There is also room for improvement with policies on flexible working.
Globally, 38% of companies publish a flexible work policy in terms of hours, and 24% publish a policy on flexible work locations. Only 19% publish a policy covering both. The highest scoring countries for gender equality in the workplace are France (51%), Spain (49%), Sweden (47%), and the UK (46%). Companies in countries with strong legislation on gender equality issues tend to perform better than those with little national regulation: Australian companies continue to dominate the top 100 ranking; at the opposite end of the spectrum are Japan and the U.S. Utilities was the top ranking sector (38%), followed by Consumer Staples (36%), and Consumer Discretionary (35%).
By the close of our research, on 20 January 2021, there were 14 companies with an active Alarm Bell on sexual harassment or gender discrimination (definition on page 34). Of these 14 companies, 12 are U.S.-based, one is Swiss and one is a UK company