Worldwide Women Public Sector Leaders Network
In only 4 countries across the G20 do women occupy even a third of the public sector leadership roles.
Our research shows that despite women constituting a significant part of the overall public sector workforce in many countries, they remain, woefully under-represented at the top table.
Women are 51% of the population. But even in Canada, the country ranked number one in the 'Worldwide Index of Women as Public Sector Leaders' that measures gender representation across the leadership of the G20 countries’ public sectors, they account for only 45% of its public sector leaders.
Why is it 40 years after commencing serious work on gender equality there is still only limited progress? For many years, there was an assumption that it was clear and what needed to be done - change the law and improve women's access to education and soon women everywhere would be doing everything and attitudes would change. Of course there has been a lot of change over the past 20 to 40 years - but not as much as one might have expected at leadership levels.
So what can be done? We have identified four streams of action which, when taken together, seem to lead to greater representation of women in leadership roles:
- Legislation to address visible barriers
- Cultural transformation to address invisible barriers
- Role models and leadership
- Women taking action themselves