Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Elsie Addo Awadzi is pushing for a deliberate review of workplace policies and processes for hiring and performance management to ensure that well-deserving women get a fair chance to top leadership positions.
According to her, shareholders must intentionally ensure gender equity in top management compositions of organisations to ensure a lot is achieved with more women in leadership positions.
Speaking at the Ghana Employers Association First Annual Leadership Conference 2022, Madam Elsie Addo Awadzi said more women in leadership roles translates into an increase in growth, profitability, and more long-term overall positive performance.
“A lot needs to be done to change this narrative. Workplaces must intentionally review their policies and processes for hiring and performance management to ensure that well-deserving women get a fair chance to get into top leadership positions. Shareholders must consciously ensure gender equity in Board and Top
management composition, for organisations to reap the benefits that women leaders bring to the table. Programmes to identify high-potential women that can be groomed and trained to join the leadership track in every organisation must be encouraged,” she said.
The World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 which benchmarks 153 countries on their progress towards gender parity in four key areas namely: Economic Participation and Opportunity; Educational Attainment; Health and Survival; and Political Empowerment, reports that progress has been more towards
closing the Educational Attainment and Health and Survival gaps than in other areas.
Also, the number of women in senior roles within the Economic Participation and Opportunity indicator has also increased marginally, in that, globally, 36% of senior private sector managers and public sector’s officials are women (about 2% higher than the figure reported the previous year).
Research shows that women in Boardrooms and in top management positions lead to better outcomes for organisations and for national economies as a whole. More women in leadership roles translates into an increase in growth, profitability, risk management, and more long-term overall positive performance, and according to McKinsey in 2019, can improve global GDP by about US$ 12 billion over a span of 10 years. It is no wonder that Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) focuses on achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.
Madam Elsie Addo Awadzi also urged organisations to use of technology to provide flexible work arrangements that enable more women to take up certain roles and excel at them, adding “workplace cultures must also evolve to evaluate performance based on output and value-addition, instead of mere physical presence in the office.”
She further noted that a comprehensive stakeholder approach is required to address all the structural and cultural barriers that keep women lagging behind in rising to the top in the digital economy.
