As a business professional, I have always found it offensive when gender equality at work was treated as a guilt-motivated moral issue. I personally didn't want to be treated as a charity case and didn't feel that other women did either. It seemed to me that this kind of treatment devalued the individual talents of a woman, and it could easily lead to pink-washing.
For any diversity initiative to be truly successful it must tie into the company's business objectives and strategy and have the full support of its leadership team. This may require building and communicating the internal business case for diversity.
The good news is that there is plenty of independent evidence showing that having more talented women in leadership, management and overall workforce improves companies' financial results and provides numerous other business benefits.
Here are 39 examples of such benefits, supported by research.
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