The Business Case for Gender Diversity

Better Financial Results

"...the 25 Fortune 500 firms with the best record of promoting women to high positions are between 18 and 69 percent more profitable than the median Fortune 500 firms in their industries."

--Adler, Roy D. (2001). Women in the Executive Suite Correlate to High Profits.
Glass Ceiling Research Center

"The group of companies with the highest representation of women on their top management teams experienced better financial performance than the group of companies with the lowest women's representation. This finding holds for both financial measures analyzed: Return on Equity (ROE), which is 35.1 percent higher, and Total Return to Shareholders (TRS), which is 34.0 percent higher."

--Catalyst. (2004). The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity

"Between 1997 and 2002...(sales for) privately held 50% or more women-owned businesses...were up 32% compared to an increase of 24% for all firms."

--Center for Women's Business Research. (2003). Nearly Half of All Privately Held U.S. Businesses are Women-Owned.
Press Release dated May 6, 2003

Improved Access To A Growing, Well-Educated Segment
Of The Workforce

In the academic year 2001-2002, women earned 57.4% of bachelor's degrees, 58.7% of master's degrees, and 46.3% of doctorates.

--U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2003).
Postsecondary Institutions in the United Stales: Fall 2002 and Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2001-02

"Women's share of the labor force is expected to increase from 46.5 percent in 2002 to 47.5 percent in 2012."

--Toossi, M. (2004). Labor force projections to 2012: the graying of the U.S. Workforce.
Monthly Labor Review, February 2004. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Improved Market Share

"In consumer businesses, the more a company mirrors its markets demographically, the better positioned it is to sense and respond to evolving market needs."

--Catalyst. (2002). Making Change: Creating a Business Case for Diversity

"Women are responsible for 83% of all consumer purchases. . . When you add the purchasing officers who are women, it is an American Woman's Economy that accounts for over half of the U.S. GDP. . .about $5 trillion."

--Barletta, M. (2002). Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach,
and Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market Segment.,  Dearborn Trade Publishing

"Forty-six percent (46%), nearly half, of all businesses are at least 50% owned by a woman or women."

--Center for Women's Business Research. (2003). Top 10 Facts About Women Business Owners

Better Management

Women possess a unique combination of interpersonal and work ethic traits that seem tailor-made for the management ranks. . . in a study of 425 high-level executives performed by the Hagberg Consulting Group, female managers were rated higher than their male counterparts in 42 of 52 skills measured.

--Collison, J. Female bosses rate higher as effective leaders: What must employers and males do?