France & South Africa lead in gender diversity at top levels

South Africa and France are leading the way in gender diversity in senior and board roles across the public and private sectors, according to the latest research by Kearney. 

South Africa leads in public sector representation with 44% female Members of Parliament (MPs). And France leads the world with 43.8% female representation at board level in the private sector. The latest Gender Equality Report from global consultancy Kearney has revealed progress in the representation of women in both public and private sectors; however, gender parity has yet to be achieved.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, the analysis provides insights into the progress of gender diversity in private and public sectors across nine countries. They include the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, France, Spain, Germany, South Africa and Singapore.

WOMEN ON BOARDS

The report revealed that France is number one for representation in the private sector with women comprising nearly 43.8% of board members on average; however only 2% of these women held top board positions. The UK (36%) and Australia (34%) also scored highly for representation of women on boards. Despite progress, the average board representation of women still stands at 29.9% – which is not even one in three.

WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT

The public sector fares slightly better, with the average number of women MPs across all countries at 33.2%. That said, two thirds (6 out of 9) countries showed more promising gender parity in their governments compared to private company boards. South Africa leads the way in the public sector as 44% of its MPs comprise women. That’s a huge step up from 28.5% women on boards. France is the most gender-diverse nation across both parliament and the boards of its largest companies, leading with 40.4% parity overall; compared to the global average across both sectors (32%).

This year’s annual report demonstrates modest progress compared with 2020, confirmed Kearney. Representation of women in the private sector has increased marginally in the United States (1.2%), United Kingdom (3%) and Australia (0.6%), as well as in the parliaments of Australia (1%) and the United States (3.5%), which had a record year for women elected. India remains the least gender diverse country studied with representation of women under 20% across both public (14%) and private sectors (17%).

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION PROGRESS

“It’s positive to see businesses and governments move towards equal representation as women hold an increasing number of high-ranking positions. However, progress has been slow, and the gender leadership gap endures. France is leading the way for private sector representation and South Africa ranks number one for public sector diversity, and the progress of these two countries should provide benchmarks as we work towards achieving gender parity worldwide,” stated Beth Sehgal, Global Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Kearney. 

“Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives will need to be prioritised, particularly in countries lagging behind. Diversity has regularly been linked to high-performance with a variety of perspectives encouraging fresh ideas and preventing the dreaded group think,” Sehgal added. “As the economy rebuilds from the aftermath of coronavirus, it will be crucial women are fairly represented in both public and private sector roles to help assist in its recovery and to avoid a regression on gender equality or she-cession’.”