Julie Savard-Shaw
Executive Director, The Prosperity Project
The Prosperity Project (TPP), incepted in April 2020, was conceived to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in Canada. In 2023, we turned our attention to identifying and eliminating the entrenched barriers and biases that impede women’s advancement, limiting their, and Canada’s, opportunities for increased prosperity.
Our Annual Report Card on Gender Diversity and Leadership (ARC) is the only annual diversity study in Canada that measures intersectional gender-disaggregated data at four different levels of leadership.
What does that mean? We look at the number of Black women, Indigenous women, women of colour, women identifying as having a disability, and 2SLGBTQIA+ women at each of these levels: pipeline to senior management, senior management, executive officer, and corporate director.
An alarming trend is surfacing: the pipeline of women in Canada moving toward leadership roles has not recovered since the drastic drop during COVID-19.
Why? Many women in corporate Canada don’t see the benefits of seeking advancement. Our Canadian Households’ Perspective surveys show that women are plagued by burnout and stress, but most importantly, they feel undervalued, unsupported, passed over for promotions, and underpaid compared to their male counterparts.
Perspective surveys show that women are plagued by burnout and stress, but most importantly, they feel undervalued, unsupported, passed over for promotions, and underpaid compared to their male counterparts.
In 5 to 10 years, who will be sitting around your decision-making table? It’s time companies invest in women to accelerate progress.
Thank you to our partners.
Q&A
Kathleen Taylor
Founding Visionary, The Prosperity Project
Why is knowing the representation of women in the pipeline to leadership important?
Research shows that greater representation of women in senior leadership leads to increased performance and higher profitability. When organizations have a solid understanding of who is in — or could be in — the pipeline for leadership roles, they can actively develop and promote more high-potential female candidates, helping to ensure that these women are prepared and supported as they move toward and into the top positions.
How can organizations help women in the pipeline to leadership advance to senior leadership roles?
Today’s decision-makers can support the advancement of women to senior positions by modernizing systems that historically may have promoted men over women. To do that, organizations need to monitor, cultivate, and actively develop women in their leadership pipelines. At the same time, women must be offered and encouraged to accept operational roles that put them on the succession track for the C-suite. All of this requires a hands-on approach to foster a culture where women can access the support and mentorship that are critical to their success. While no easy feat, a concerted effort in this space has increased the representation of women in senior leadership roles across many sectors and businesses.
Join us as a partner to access our program or donate to support TPP’s ongoing research.
