The 30% Club launches the Mexican Chapter to continue with its global mission of increasing gender diversity at board and senior management levels.
- In Mexico, women’s participation on boards of the listed companies in the Stock Exchange is 6.5%.
- The minimum objective is to achieve 30% representation of women on boards and C-suites since this level represents the point at which minority groups can impact boardroom dynamics.
- Gender balance on teams achieves better outcomes with higher profitability making the business case clear.
Mexico City, December 2, 2020. The 30% Club campaign was set up by Dame Helena Morrissey in 2010 with the aim of achieving a minimum of 30% female representation on FTSE 100 boards. That target was reached in September 2018 and good progress has been made (Oct 20 35.4%). As a result of the success, the campaign has expanded its footprint launching 16 chapters across the world. Mexico is joining together with the LATAM chapters (Colombia, Chile and Brazil) to collaborate, accelerate communication, share common practices and build capacity across the region.
The 30% Club Mexico Chapter is being developed thanks to the participation of companies that understand that gender diversity improves not only profitability, but also enhances the capacity to attract and retain talent. The taskforce is led by members committed to measure their baseline, set a 30% aspirational target at board level and drive progress toward that goal.
The target is to reach a minimum of 30% female participation on boards of listed companies of the Mexican Stock Exchanges (BMV and BIVA) by 2025 with the collaboration of the members that can activate other CEOs and Chairs, influence those with power to drive change and enable future women leaders.
Why 30% matters?
Thirty percent is the minimum level necessary to make a difference according to several international studies, to the point that those who are close to or have met this goal achieve a better position in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and are prioritized by many private investment funds.
In Mexico, women’s participation on boards of listed companies in the BMV is 6.5%. As per McKinsey’s research, “closing the gender gap in the labor force offers an opportunity to increase the total global GDP by USD 12 trillion and to add USD 0.8 trillion, or an additional 70 percent, to Mexico’s GDP”.3
- Cross-company Mentoring Program led by Moving Ahead to provide a powerful, practical and proven structure where organizations participate by putting forward female mentees and male and female mentors.
- Investor Group brings together asset owners and asset managers committed to help coordinate the investment community’s approach to gender diversity investees by using tools such as the Bloomberg Gender Equality Reporting Framework and Gender Equality Index to track their progress towards equality in the workplace to manage effective change
- HR Best Practice Group shares and develops the best practices that can be implemented across a range of firms and industries to develop gender balance in leadership.
The campaign is being led by Claudia Corona, founder of Impronta Verde and Laura Cruz, Country Manager of Mastercard. The 30% Club Mexico is open to new members willing to promote gender diversity in their companies.
Laura Cruz said: “As a woman and as Country Manager of Mastercard Mexico, I am very proud to be part of the launch of the 30% Club Mexico. By contributing to female empowerment and promoting the recognition of the value of women’s leadership, we are laying the foundation for an egalitarian, exclusive and unprejudiced society.”
Claudia Corona, said: “As a leader, I am more than honored to be participating in this campaign which is building a legacy for future generations and paves the way for companies to become more flexible, attractive to investors and transparent. In times of crisis, we need more than ever to provide innovative and creative solutions to change our paradigms to become stronger and sustainable.”
Ann Cairns, Global Chair of the 30% Club, added: “I would like to offer a warm welcome to the 30% Club Mexico. We are delighted to have another G20 country join our global campaign to get more women into the boardrooms and senior leadership teams of the world’s biggest companies. We look forward to working together on our shared aims and learning from each other’s experiences and successes.”
Some interesting facts about gender diversity in Mexico:
54% of women have post-graduate qualifications but only 1.5% of companies have more than three women in senior management positions
The main problem is that most of these companies do not have a formal policy regarding the participation of women in leadership positions
The employed female population represents 39%; however, less than half of women of productive age participate in the labor market, the second lowest rate of all OECD countries
The basic level of employees is composed of 37% women
1BMV: Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. BIVA : Bolsa Institucional de Valores started operations in September 2017.
2Source: Center for Research on Women in Senior Management at IPADE with information from INEGI, Deloitte, CNBV and ANUIES Data from 2018.
