In the context of the Gender Equality Awards 2020, an iconic international event that recently included Professional Women’s Network Lisbon (PWN Lisbon) as a strategic partner in Portugal, results of the Gender Diversity Index 2020 (GDI) were announced, a study that analyses gender representation on the boards of directors and executive positions of the largest European companies.

In this second edition of the study, the range of companies analyzed was expanded to ensure a more European representation. Thus, listed companies from 6 more countries were added, e.g. Austria (ATX), Ireland (ISEQ20), Luxembourg LUXx), Poland (WIG), Portugal (PSI20 ) and the Czech Republic (PX), to the initial 600 companies listed on STOXX Europe representing 12 European countries. Results obtained show a positive evolution, albeit slow, as regards gender equality in most countries, including Portugal. And considering that this study still points to wide disparities when looking at each particular country, we should therefore focus on the gross figures regarding leadership and the trends towards (un) equal opportunities in access to management positions, a factor that plays a decisive role in this context.

Listed companies in Norway, France, the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden are closer to balanced leadership and women perform highly responsible roles in these countries. Companies in Poland and the Czech Republic, for their part, are far from achieving a desirable and expectable balance as regards their leadership choices.

Let us see the main results:

• Women represent only 28% of executive and non-executive positions. This percentage rises to 34% when analyzing only non-executive positions (at Board level), but falls to 17% when analyzing only executive positions;
• Only 42 out of 668 companies (6%) have a female CEO. Only 130 companies (19%) have a woman in one of these roles: CEO, COO or CFO;
• The number of companies with greater participation of women in the decision-making process has doubled;
• Women accounted for 35% of new appointments and, on the other hand, only 24% of people left these positions.

These results point to quite different realities between different European countries and in each particular country companies show different results. It is worth mentioning that the measures adopted by the governments of each country, e.g. the imposition of legislation on quotas ‘versus’ the situation in countries that have applied more ‘soft’ measures (including Portugal), also had an impact on the results.

As for Portugal, I would say that the country still has significant room for improvement, at many levels. It takes the 13th place in the ranking, among the 18 countries covered in this analysis, with a score of 0.44 on the Gender Diversity Index (IDG) – this score is 0.12 points below the European average and 0.30 points below Norway, the country that leads the ranking. Portugal scores below average on almost all index indicators, with scores particularly low as regards the percentage of women in executive management positions (14%) and women in committees (21%), lagging more than 15% behind the country with the highest score. It is worth mentioning that 6 Portuguese companies were not included in this study, given that, despite being listed on the PSI20, it was not possible to obtain the necessary information (NOS, Pharol, REN, Semapa, Sonae and Sonae Capital).

It should be noted that none of the companies analyzed in Portugal has a female CEO, while 6% of the companies have a woman on their board of directors. Only three (25%) Portuguese companies (CTT, Jerónimo Martins and F. Ramadas Investimentos) have a higher than average IDG. Furthermore, four (33%) of these companies have an index below 0.40. Two of the five largest companies in Portugal, Corticeira Amorim and Galp Energia, have an IDG below the average GDI of 0.04 and 0.05 points, respectively. The company with the highest ranking in Portugal, CTT, also has no women on the leadership of the board of directors, despite representing 60% of the management and management committee positions.

According to Päivi Jokinen, President of European Women on Boards – a strategic initiative that identifies women with the profile, the career path and the skills most suited for the performance of top management positions – “in a heterogeneous environment with a greater diversity of thought, prospects are broadened and business risks are reduced. By using the entire workforce to its full capacity, Europe can ensure its competitiveness in the global economy”. Now, this is the vision that matches mine and that of PWN Lisbon, an organization I am part of and where I am in charge of the “Women on Boards” Program and which, since its foundation in 2011, has been doing its most to deconstruct the common places the female leadership still rests on.

The situation in the European countries covered by the study is very diverse but I would say that the pressing and unavoidable issues at the European level and what needs to be addressed remains the same in each country, and in Portugal in particular: a) educate, train, communicate, bring out the good examples; and b) ensure that, regardless of gender, meritocracy prevails. That is why we should not focus on gender alone, but – and taking into account the context that we live in today with total synergy with the profile and style of leaders – also on the qualities of leadership itself.

The issue of gender equality is just one of the many challenges facing organizations today. Integration of different generations and cultures, the reception of “millennials”, the key competencies for permanent change, the new business segments, the growing technological environment, remote work and the management of remote teams, among others, are pressing and structuring issues.

Thus, leadership takes on even greater relevance. The leadership of the present and the future must be more than ever inclusive, marked by greater collaboration, greater agility and transparency, where the safety of each employee becomes a priority. Leaders have to be able to look at the individuality of each member of their team, to enhance the contribution of each one, taking advantage of this diversity of thought while promoting a much more collaborative approach as a guarantee for better decision-making, and ensure the resolution of complex problems.

The results of the Gender Diversity Index show that there is still a lot to do for the sake of gender equality. The pandemic that forced change very abruptly on everyone, introduced a new way of working that, on the one hand, generated increased challenges in terms of work-life balance and, on the other, helped prove that remote work works. We should take advantage of this moment of many changes and adaptations, to generate a more decisive transformation and we should have the courage to, without any fear of intimidating a few, seize the opportunity to benefit everyone.