Armenia has taken one step forward on women in leadership according to Grant Thornton global survey

On International Women’s Day, a new research from Grant Thornton reveals that a greater number of businesses have women in senior leadership roles, but that meaningful gender balance remains elusive. Significantly more businesses globally (75% in 2018 v 66% in 2017) now have at least one woman on the senior management team, but the proportion of the team that is female has slipped from 25% to 24%.

Published to coincide with International Women’s Day 2018, which calls on all to #PressforProgress, the research reveals that introducing policies alone is not enough to drive real progress. A wider culture of inclusion championed from the top is needed to create change.

The progress on the number of businesses with women in senior management has primarily been driven by emerging economies such as Africa (where 89% of businesses have at least one woman in senior management) and Eastern Europe (87%), while Latin America has seen the biggest increase (from 52% to 65%). But there has also been a significant increase in developed regions such as North America (from 69% to 81%) and the European Union (EU from 64% to 73%).

Emerging economies also continue to see the highest proportion of women in top positions, including Eastern Europe (36%), Latin America (30%) and Africa (30%).

The research reveals that Armenia is among those countries, where the proportion of senior roles held by women is slightly up this year. The number of senior leadership roles held by women moved from 31% to 32%. However, the surveyed Armenian businesses haven’t recorded improvement in diversity in management positions: 17% having no women in senior roles (as compared to 10% in 2017).

Gagik Gyulbudaghyan, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Armenia, said: “It’s clear that simply introducing policies is not enough to drive real progress on gender diversity. Businesses which succeed are those whose policies and practices are rooted in a genuine conviction of the benefit of diversity. Leaders must champion the cause and create inclusive cultures in which a wide range of voices are listened to and where every individual can flourish if we are ever to see real change. Leaders are the only ones who can really press for progress.”

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