Current context of the presence of women in the professional environment

In France, the overall success rate in secondary and university studies is higher among young women. But once in the professional world, the trend is reversed. Women are having more difficulty finding work, and their number is decreasing as you move up the organization chart.

And yet, when women are involved in decision-making processes, there are positive effects.

The importance of integrating women into management positions

Here are a few reasons why women should finally take their rightful place in business.

1) Improvement of working conditions

Integrating women into the highest echelons often involves rethinking the organization of work. Indeed, they have specific needs related to their family responsibilities.

Taking these specificities into account has led to increased consideration of working conditions and the implementation of provisions to better reconcile personal and professional life, and everyone benefits from it!

Moreover, over time we have seen that the balance between these two aspects has become a concern that is at least as masculine as feminine.

2) More creativity

The vocation of a business is primarily to sell, and the market is mostly made up of women. Indeed, they most of the time, in one way or another, influence the choice of product or service to buy.

For example, environments that are still heavily male, such as the automotive industry, would benefit from including more women in their thinking, because although they are not often passionate about cars, at the time of purchase, their opinion weighs heavily on the purchase decision.

Seen in this way, a female opinion is therefore welcome in order to better understand the market in order to better reach it.

3) Better profitability

Several studies have shown that diversity within Management Committees, Executive Committees or Boards of Directors is a source of performance.

If it was still necessary to demonstrate it, in February 2016 the Peterson Institute for International Economics published the results of its study on the link between the presence of women in management teams and performance.

After analysing 21,980 companies in 91 countries, the result is unequivocal: having women in top management is a driver of performance.

4) A better image

Promoting diversity and implementing it is good for reputation, both internally and externally. Indeed, companies that have implemented a program for more gender diversity among their staff have seen improved employee motivation, customer satisfaction and even their brand image.

Moreover, such a business attracts female talent who see such a structure as a framework in which the glass ceiling is thin, if not non-existent, and therefore where there is the possibility of professional development.

5) More complementarity

Without going into stereotypes, men and women present different management styles, both of which have proven themselves. Thus, combining these two ways of thinking about the company can only be beneficial, one complementing the shortcomings of the other.

In addition, the diversity of points of view and approaches is an asset in solving problems.

Towards the valorization of women's potential in business

Female potential is a resource that is still largely under-exploited in companies.

In view of all these advantages and many others — induced by the presence of women in management teams, there is no longer any reason not to integrate them further.

This is not about respecting equality quotas, but about taking advantage of all available talent to increase happiness at work and company performance.