Written by: Philip BUDGEN
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Having a workforce composition of 40-60% men and women would represent gender balance. This is important because it enables women to contribute more to society and the economy, along with helping empower them. While male employment rates in 2019 stood at 74%, women’s stood at 4.9%, with women also making an average of 20% less. In the medical devices industry, women made up around 30% of the workforce, with only 15% of the highest paying jobs taken by women.
In 2020 around 10,000 employees worked at Varian Medical Systems (VMS), with roughly 3,000 (30%) women. In the vice president and senior vice president roles, women represented 20.1% of roles. On the board of directors, 4 of the 9 (44.4%) seats were occupied by women.
VMS participated in dedicated forums to promote female development, such as the Grace Hopper Conference, where 112 female employees attended. Similarly, 11 women attended the European Women in Tech Conference with 1 female VMS keynote speaker, and another 50 attended the Watermark Conference with 3 female VMS keynote speakers. The company also provides bias mitigation tactics in training to managers. No data on the gender pay gap is available.
VMS employs a minority of women, standing on par with the industry average in overall workforce composition but behind the gender-balanced 40-60% ratio. Additionally, women are underrepresented at the vice president and senior vice president levels, standing just ahead of the industry average. Although women make up almost half of the board of directors, there is a noticeable disproportion of women in lower levels than higher ones, suggesting that a glass ceiling might be present. The company must increase overall female representation and provide more data on the gender pay gap to empower women further.
