Three wishes for our daughters on International Women’s Day

Each year, International Women’s Day makes me think about my daughter and her future.

My wife and I love our daughter dearly. She’s a sophomore in college, and it’s hard for us to grasp that the little girl who I called “peanut” is just a few short years from entering the workforce!

As we look ahead, we know the working world is a better place for many women than it used to be. But we also understand there is still much to do across the globe to close the gap for all and achieve full gender parity. In fact, the World Economic Forum estimates that at the current pace, it will take 117 years to close the economic gender gap.

That’s just not acceptable.

As I look ahead at the world my daughter and other young women will inhabit and (I hope) lead in the coming decades, I make three wishes for more progress:

• I wish employers would do everything they could to help women achieve their professional ambitions.

• I wish women would be recognized as the powerful social and economic forces they are.
• I wish more business leaders embraced the broad-based value gender parity generates in the marketplace – and in the world. 
  

The good news is that a growing number of organizations are starting to get it. EY certainly does. Like many businesses, EY makes the advancement of women a high priority. It’s core to our culture of trust, and one of the many reasons the US firm was just named to FORTUNE magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the 18th year. And we ranked first for women in professional services in Universum’s 2015 survey.

There are countless social and ethical reasons why businesses should support career growth and gender parity, but there’s also a powerful business case. Consider this:

Businesses with female leaders perform better

An EY Center for Board Matters survey interviewed institutional investors, associations and advisors about their top-of-mind issues for boards. Many cited diversity in board composition as the top priority. Additionally, a new study from The Peterson Institute for International Economics and EY found the presence of women below the board level has a significant impact on profitability. Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Study reveals that organizations with 30% female leaders add up to 6 percentage points to their net margins. This validates what we continue to know – women are good for business.

Women are the world’s largest emerging market

A recent EY paper estimated that in the next five years, the global incomes of women will grow from US $13 trillion to US $18 trillion. That incremental US $5 trillion is almost twice the growth in GDP expected from China and India combined. By the year 2028, women will control close to 75 percent of discretionary spending worldwide. Companies that tap into this vast buying power will have a distinct advantage in the marketplace.

Gender parity can boost productivity

Worldwide, women in the workforce contribute both directly and indirectly to productivity gains. Indirect gains come from their greater investment in their children’s health, education, welfare and other success drivers. EY also found that male-dominated industries could increase their productivity in many countries by 3% to 25% through improved female labor force participation.

I believe we are on the right path to making these wishes come true for women and girls. Thinking of my daughter, I want to close with a personal question and an “ask” for all of us. Our response is incredibly important for everyone’s economic well-being and certainly for all the women in our lives – wives, daughters, nieces, dear friends and their families.

 How will you put gender on your agenda and help increase prosperity for all?

Here’s a place to start. On this International Women’s Day, make a #PledgeForParity and commit to bringing that pledge to life in your working world. Together, we can fast forward to a better future for all of us.

About the author: Steve Howe is EY Americas Managing Partner and Chairman and Managing Partner of Ernst & Young LLP, the EY firm in the US. He has been honored by the National Association of Corporate Directors as a Directorship 100 honoree (2014 and 2015), recognizing him as one of the most influential leaders in the boardroom and corporate governance community. Accounting Today also named Steve to their “Top 100 Most Influential People” 2014 and 2015 lists of the thought leaders and visionaries who are shaping the accounting profession. In addition, Steve was recognized as one of the top “100 CEO Leaders in STEM” by STEMconnector. You can follow him on Twitter: @SteveHoweEY