Women Matter: Ten years of insights on gender diversity
January 17, 2020
Here is an excerpt from an article written by Sandrine Devillard, Alix de Zelicourt, Cecile Kossoff, Eric Labaye, and Sandra Sancier-Sultan for the McKinsey Quarterly, published by McKinsey & Company. They introduce what is surely a “must read” for many (if not most) executives. To read the complete article, check out others, learn more about the firm, and sign up for email alerts, please click here.
* * *
A decade into our research, we highlight key findings—and invite 16 global leaders to look at how to increase gender diversity in corporations and imagine the inclusive company of the future.
Globally, women generate 37 percent of global GDP despite accounting for 50 percent of the global working-age population.The global average contribution to GDP masks large variations among regions. The share of regional GDP output generated by women is only 17 percent in India, 18 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, 24 percent in South Asia (excluding India), and 38 percent in Western Europe. In North America and Oceania, China, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the share is 40 to 41 percent.
A landmark McKinsey Global Institute report finds that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 if the gender gap is narrowed.
For the past ten years, McKinsey has been researching to build the case for greater parity in the economy and in corporations’ top management, and to understand the levers to make change happen. Through the Women Matter and Women in the Workplace series, as well as the McKinsey Global Institute’s reports, we have developed a global and regional understanding of the situation, built a clear economic case for change (at both the macro and micro levels), and identified common barriers and change drivers across the world, as well as specific issues or gaps to fix in some regions.
Ten years after our first report, while there is momentum in some parts of the world—namely Europe, North America and some places in Asia and Latin America—women are still underrepresented in the economy and in companies’ top management.
