MWEMA, Sophia (344 words)
Canadian Companies Need More Women on Corporate Boards
Women are continuously under-represented in leadership positions despite constituting a large part of the workforce. A recent GMI ratings study revealed that only 13.1% of Canadian board members are females (Tedesco, 2013). Gender diversity has economic benefits to businesses rather than merely being a matter of social justice, as it is evident from studies and interviews in various articles showing the current level of public understanding on females’ representation (Carlson, 2013; Toller, 2013).
Companies are urged to diversify their board membership because women have a “complex moral reasoning”(p. 51) unlike the “traditional normative thinking”(p. 51) by men (Toller, 2013). Consequently, women will challenge the board by asking more questions, which leads to efficient decision-making.
However, women remain passive despite their talents because today’s business setting is male biased (Toller, 2013). Like men, most corporations think of success as a victory, whereas, women aim at personal growth and dignity. Furthermore, there is the prevalence of misleading sexist stereotypes such as there are more talented men than women (Carlson, 2013).
Canada must choose either quotas or “comply or explain” policy to increase women’s representation. Stakeholders suggest the latter because the policy creates awareness since firms disclose their strategies to diversify board membership and still retain their freedom. It also ensures a long-term inflow of women into boards by re-examining the recruitment procedures and still guarantee placement on boards is based only on competence (Caranci, 2013).
Although the government’s input is unsatisfactory, women’s organizations such as the Canadian Board of Corporate Directors (CBCD) and Catalyst-Canada have made significant progress. They have created databases of board-ready women, from which organizations can obtain female directors (Wintrob, 2013).
Gender diversity in business is necessary because globalization demands variety. Even though women on board have high economic potential, forcing drastic change through quotas is disruptive since quotas are subjective solutions that promote gender discrimination (Wintrob, 2013). Quotas also set glass ceilings- when companies only employ the exact quota-stated number of women (Carlson, 2013). Hence, a tactical approach to serve the long-run diversity should be within the contexts of Canadian socio-economic situation.

References
Carlson, K. (2103, February 2). The Gender Gap; Do Today’s Women really need Legislative help to climb the Corporate ladder? National Post, pp. A6.
Caranci, B. (2013, June 4). Levelling the board playing field. National Post, pp. FP.13
Tedesco, T. (2013, May 4). Gender diversity: Shaming Corporate Canada’s old boys’ club, National Post, pp. FP. 3.
Toller, C. (2013, May 13) ‘Different’ Can I Mean ‘Better.’ Canadian Business, 86(8), 51-52.
Wintrob, S. (June 2012). Fairness Matters. Financial Post, 118-121