The Prosperity Project is dedicated to removing barriers that hinder women’s advancement and limit Canada’s prosperity. Our 2023 Annual Report Card (ARC) highlighted an alarming 11.6% decline in the representation of women in the pipeline to leadership roles. A recurring message from Canada’s top 500 companies that participate in the ARC is their desire to use this critical data to drive meaningful change.
That is why we have created The Impact Project, an initiative that will introduce evidence-based and community-informed actionable measures for corporations to tackle key barriers such as hiring and promotion bias, as well as recruitment challenges—especially for women with intersecting identities.
Despite women entering and re-entering the workforce in greater numbers, retention and promotion remain significant issues. The data becomes even more concerning when disaggregated by intersecting identities. For example, women of color hold only 9.4% of leadership roles held by women, Indigenous women represent less than 1%, and 2SLGBTQIA+ women and women with disabilities are limited to just 1% to 1.5% representation in leadership. This trend threatens to reverse the advancements made toward gender equity and diversity in the workplace, posing a risk not only to gender parity but also to the broader Canadian economy. Research shows that greater representation of women in senior leadership leads to increased performance and profitability.
We will host roundtables across the country with diverse community stakeholders. These events will provide an opportunity for corporate decision makers in the Energy & Utilities sector, as well as in the Telecommunication & Information and Technology sector to hear directly from marginalized groups, many of whom represent an incredible talent pool. Through these events, we will listen to how community-initiated solutions have helped and draw on these learnings to develop actionable measures for employers. Through these efforts, The Impact Project seeks to create lasting systemic change in corporate Canada.
SUPPORTERS
Crowe Soberman | McCarthy Tetrault | EY | Webnames | Scotiabank
To learn more visit canadianprosperityproject.ca.
