The Women's Executive Network (WXN) and its Global Alliance for Inclusive Leadership (GAIL) partners have published a report calling on organizations to strengthen inclusion efforts through actionable strategies aimed at addressing persistent gender disparities in leadership.
The document titled “The GAIL Report: An Actionable Guide to Advance Women in the Workplace” underscored the importance of gender diversity in fostering organizational success. It outlined the persistent challenges women face in advancing to leadership positions and offered actionable strategies for organizations to achieve meaningful progress.
According to Sherri Stevens, CEO of WXN, “Women’s progress is already glacial at best, with parity on boards a decade away and well over a century before gender parity is achieved globally. But the longer organizations wait, the longer—and the more—they can suffer.”
The GAIL Report revealed gender disparities in the workplace. It is estimated that achieving full gender parity could take 95 years in North America and 131 years globally. Women currently hold just over one-third of board seats in Canada’s largest companies, but racialized women hold only 4.1 percent of those roles, and Black women represent a mere 1.2 percent. Female CEOs make up only 10 percent of Canadian leadership, while one in four executives are women.
The report highlighted the tangible benefits of diversity. Boards with at least 30 percent women consistently outperform those with fewer or no women. Female CEOs are associated with a 20 percent boost in stock price momentum, and female CFOs correlate with a 6 percent rise in profitability. The report also emphasized the potential of employee resource groups and diverse teams to drive innovation, retention, and market growth.
Challenges such as “DEI burnout”—stemming from recent layoffs targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion roles—compound the difficulties in advancing gender equity. The report also identifies a lack of standardization in diversity efforts, which can hinder meaningful progress. Male allies are highlighted as pivotal in reducing these disparities, given their capacity to influence workplace dynamics.
WXN urged organizations to adopt sustainable inclusion practices, with a goal of achieving full gender parity on boards and at least 40 female representations in executive roles by 2030. This includes focused efforts to ensure the representation of Black women, Indigenous women, women of colour, women with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ women.
Steven said, “When women rise into leadership roles, they drive broader success for both profit and people.”