More women leaders key to boost future gender balance, says B4BB

Women on the leadership teams of ISEQ 20 companies has fallen from 27% to 24%, reports Balance for Better Business

Bernard Byrne and Carol Andrews, co-chairs of B4BB, a business-led review group formed to improve and promote gender balance at board and leadership level of Irish business.

Irish companies need to do more to promote women into leadership roles to sustain recent years of gender balance progress, say the co-chairs of the Balance for Better Business (B4BB).

B4BB is an independent business-led review group established by the government in July 2018 to improve and promote gender balance at board and leadership level of Irish business. B4BB’s latest report shows that the share of women on the leadership teams of ISEQ 20 companies has dipped a little from 27% to 24%.

Carol Andrews and Bernard Byrne, co-chairs of B4BB, are urging all organisations to put a plan in place to achieve 40%+ female representation on boards and leadership teams.

“Gender balance is an important component to building a successful business. Men and women bring a complementary blend of skills to the workplace that leads to better business outcomes,” said Carol Andrews.

“As Irish businesses plan for 2025, promoting balance at all levels of the organisation, including senior leadership, will help drive growth and competitiveness into the future.

“With many firms struggling to meet their talent needs in a tight labour market, policies and processes that grow and encourage greater female participation in the labour market can help Irish business access high calibre talent that can drive innovation. Balanced businesses have also been shown to better understand and meet the buying decisions of customers, which can help them to drive growth.” 

 Published this week, the seventh annual Balance for Better Business report provides an important insight into where Irish businesses are on their gender balance journey and how we can continue to accelerate change.

Findings from the report show that there has been sustained and stable progress in the representation of women at board level on Ireland’s largest listed companies.

“We have now reached a milestone figure of 40% representation on the boards of the ISEQ20 — an important international threshold aligned with requirements in the EU’s Women on Boards Directive,” said Carol Andrews.

Since the Balance for Better Business initiative was established in 2018, there has now been a significant 22% increase in female representation at board level.

B4BB argues that while Irish firms are making positive progress on boards, more work remains at leadership level. The number of women on the leadership teams of the ISEQ20 has fallen slightly from 27% to 24% in the past 12 months.

“However, when we compare Ireland against other economies across the EU, we can see that Ireland is not an outlier in the challenges it is experiencing on leadership teams. In fact, Ireland continues to perform well against its European peers, exceeding the EU average on female leadership representation by 4.3%,” Ms Andrews said.

“That said, it is important that we consider these figures in the context of broader changes in Irish business.”

 There have been significant changes to the make-up of Ireland’s publicly listed companies over the past 18 months. The shrinking size of the ISEQ index represents a small proportion of Irish business — approximately 120,000 of the 2.7 million currently in the Irish labour market.

Thus, Balance for Better Business is putting an increased emphasis on supporting and spotlighting progress in privately held companies going forward, as these companies represent a larger proportion of the economy overall and a greater number of employees.

Bernard Byrne said: “Balance for Better Business is now calling for all organisations, public, private and semi-state to put a plan in place to achieve 40% plus female representation on boards and leadership teams by 2029.

“Reaching this crucial threshold can help companies unlock the benefits of balanced leadership, from addressing talent needs to influencing customer decisions and boosting innovation.

“To advance change, we’re encouraging all organisations, wherever they are on their gender balance journey to engage with the B4BB roadmap, which can help equip firms with the right tools for success.” Mr Byrne said that, based on international research, this roadmap will provide clear structured steps across five key areas to equip organisations with the tools to accelerate progress at both board and leadership level.

“These focus areas include making a plan and regularly measuring against targets, developing gender balanced succession plans, and providing the right talent development and retention supports for talent to advance within an organisation,” said Mr Byrne.

“To ensure sustainable change, organisations should put a clear plan in place to implement systems that encourage and facilitate strong pipelines of female talent to leadership level.” Gender balanced succession planning can help firms to accelerate the pace of progress at senior leadership level and address the number of women in key decision-making roles such as CEO, chair and CFO.

Creating clear pathways to the very top of organisations in Ireland and providing the mentorship and supports that help women along the way can support sustainable and long-term change.

“Gender balance is a strategic imperative and it’s crucial that we support all organisations, large and small, across every sector of the economy, to realise the benefits of balanced leadership,” said Carol Andrews.

“We hope that by taking on board these actions, firms across Ireland can take the right steps for success on their gender balance journey. By working together, we can address remaining imbalances and accelerate the pace of change across the Irish business landscape.”