« The corporate world must act now on leadership roles for Canadian women in business — the time for patience is gone » — The Toronto Star (*Anglais*)

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his first gender-balanced cabinet over five years ago, he was asked by reporters why that parity was so important. He replied: “Because it’s 2015.”

It was a laudable move, and a turn-of-phrase that took for granted that the need for advancing women in leadership in Canada was long overdue. But if the prime minister’s intent was to set a positive example to corporate Canada, the gesture was perhaps too subtle; for the most part they haven’t taken the hint.

The pitiful state of women in leadership positions in Canadian organizations has long been recorded and quantified. Pay equity has been legislated in Canada for about 70 years, but in publicly owned corporations, women make about 96 cents on the dollar earned by their male counterparts. The leadership gap is also alarming; in publicly owned corporations, there’s a 70/30 split favouring men in senior roles. Statistics Canada has shown women’s share of board composition hovers around 20 per cent — comparable to the U.S., but no cause for smug satisfaction.

For many years, the business status quo counselled patience. It would take time to develop a leadership pipeline to advance women in corporate Canada, they said. But according to Statistics Canada, 66 per cent of Canadian women aged 25-64 have a post-secondary education, compared to 53 per cent of men. Furthermore, the number of graduates from business programs are leaps and bounds ahead of other disciplines, and women represent 55 per cent of the student population in business programs in Canada.

At the MBA level, programs attract accomplished individuals with progressive, significant work experience, sometimes with eight to 10 years of experience or more. The average number of women reported in MBA programs ranges from 38-40 per cent. It’s not as impressive as we’d like, but many schools, including the Ted Rogers MBA program at Ryerson University in Toronto, are working hard to increase this number. The point is the female leadership pipeline has been built, yet the expected flood of qualified women into C-suites and boardrooms has been a comparative trickle.

As female business leaders and educators, how do we accelerate this process? Why not start the female leadership pipeline at the MBA level? And that’s what we did. To coincide with International Women’s Day 2021, the Ted Rogers MBA program, in collaboration with the student-run organization Women In Leadership and our partners at Interac Corp., recently ran “Reimagining Women in Leadership,” a two-day virtual conference and case competition.

The conference saw two days of learning, dialogue and healthy competition among MBA programs in Canada and the U.S., aimed at sparking new ideas and approaches while catalyzing opportunities to advance women into leadership. First prize in the case competition is a 12-month 1:1 mentorship program with a focus on enhancing board governance knowledge and access through the gender-equity organization Women in Governance. We intend to make this path to board governance a yearly opportunity.

MBA students are motivated to step up to the challenge because they want to shape Canada’s future. It is gratifying to know we aren’t alone in driving change. Some years ago, the Edwards Business School at the University of Saskatchewan created a course on board governance and leadership; the Ted Rogers MBA will be offering an elective course in board governance with the view to publicizing the availability of our MBA students who seek board membership.

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his first gender-balanced cabinet over five years ago, he was asked by reporters why that parity was so important. He replied: “Because it’s 2015.”

It was a laudable move, and a turn-of-phrase that took for granted that the need for advancing women in leadership in Canada was long overdue. But if the prime minister’s intent was to set a positive example to corporate Canada, the gesture was perhaps too subtle; for the most part they haven’t taken the hint.

The pitiful state of women in leadership positions in Canadian organizations has long been recorded and quantified. Pay equity has been legislated in Canada for about 70 years, but in publicly owned corporations, women make about 96 cents on the dollar earned by their male counterparts. The leadership gap is also alarming; in publicly owned corporations, there’s a 70/30 split favouring men in senior roles. Statistics Canada has shown women’s share of board composition hovers around 20 per cent — comparable to the U.S., but no cause for smug satisfaction.

For many years, the business status quo counselled patience. It would take time to develop a leadership pipeline to advance women in corporate Canada, they said. But according to Statistics Canada, 66 per cent of Canadian women aged 25-64 have a post-secondary education, compared to 53 per cent of men. Furthermore, the number of graduates from business programs are leaps and bounds ahead of other disciplines, and women represent 55 per cent of the student population in business programs in Canada.

At the MBA level, programs attract accomplished individuals with progressive, significant work experience, sometimes with eight to 10 years of experience or more. The average number of women reported in MBA programs ranges from 38-40 per cent. It’s not as impressive as we’d like, but many schools, including the Ted Rogers MBA program at Ryerson University in Toronto, are working hard to increase this number. The point is the female leadership pipeline has been built, yet the expected flood of qualified women into C-suites and boardrooms has been a comparative trickle.

As female business leaders and educators, how do we accelerate this process? Why not start the female leadership pipeline at the MBA level? And that’s what we did. To coincide with International Women’s Day 2021, the Ted Rogers MBA program, in collaboration with the student-run organization Women In Leadership and our partners at Interac Corp., recently ran “Reimagining Women in Leadership,” a two-day virtual conference and case competition.

The conference saw two days of learning, dialogue and healthy competition among MBA programs in Canada and the U.S., aimed at sparking new ideas and approaches while catalyzing opportunities to advance women into leadership. First prize in the case competition is a 12-month 1:1 mentorship program with a focus on enhancing board governance knowledge and access through the gender-equity organization Women in Governance. We intend to make this path to board governance a yearly opportunity.

MBA students are motivated to step up to the challenge because they want to shape Canada’s future. It is gratifying to know we aren’t alone in driving change. Some years ago, the Edwards Business School at the University of Saskatchewan created a course on board governance and leadership; the Ted Rogers MBA will be offering an elective course in board governance with the view to publicizing the availability of our MBA students who seek board membership.

An opinon piece co-signed by Donna Smith, graduate programs director, MBA programs at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management and Caroline Codsi, Founder and Chief Equality Officer of Women in Governance. “To coincide with International Women’s Day 2021, the Ted Rogers MBA program […] recently ran “Reimagining Women in Leadership,” a two-day virtual conference and case competition. […] First prize in the case competition is a 12-month 1:1 mentorship program with a focus on enhancing board governance knowledge and access through the gender-equity organization Women in Governance. We intend to make this path to board governance a yearly opportunity.”