As there has been an increasing trend of encouraging companies to promote the development of sustainability by means of preparing ESG reports, investing in green finance, inventing and adopting green technology and so on, one interesting topic also comes into people’s attention which is the relationship between gender diversity and company decisions in ESG. A recent report entitled ‘Better Leadership, Better World: Women Leading for the Global Goals’ published by the Women Rising 2030 talks about the importance and role of female leaders in corporations, and it provides some interesting views regarding the issue.
One importance of the role of females in corporations is about environmental management. The report points out that environmental issues have always been one of the top priorities of female leaders and they would tend to take active role in promoting and pursuing sustainability. Examples include negotiating with suppliers to measure and decrease carbon footprint of their products, and investing in renewable power and low-carbon products. It is believed that women leaders are more sensitive to the potential environmental risks brought by the company projects and they are more willing to deal with the environmental problems than the male leaders. As a result, female leaders may outperform their male counterpart in the pursuit of sustainability in business setting.
Another advantage of involving women in business decisions may be improving corporate governance. It is believed that women prefer ethical business practices more, and they would be more active in introducing proper guidelines and policies to maintain the ethic and integrity of a company, so involving female leaders in corporate boards can help prevent scandals and negative influence caused by unethical business practices. Also, female leaders are found to be more supportive of establishing clear governance structure and monitor management system, as well as advocating company’s disclosure and transparency, thus creating a strong company structure and image.
The role of female in corporation is definitely not limited to the above, but it does not mean that men leaders are not important at all as companies should try to strive for gender diversity which means balancing the number of male and female members. For the sake of company interest, maybe it is time for company leaders to consider involving more females in business decisions and to promote gender diversity.
