Angie O'Grady: Having More Women Leaders Is Good for Business

Women make up more than their share of the consumer market, but less than their share of business leadership. This has to change.

by Karina Govindji

Recipient of the Asian Woman of Achievement Award in Business

This article is featured in "Women and the Workplace," a weeklong series exploring a variety of issues affecting modern working women.

I know that I rule the roost at my home, so I wasn't surprised to find that women make up more than 70% of all consumer purchasing decisions worldwide. But even I found this statistic shocking: The global female consumer market is worth about 12.45 trillion pounds ($20 trillion) -- bigger than the consumer markets of China and India combined. Yet here in the United Kingdom, women only make up 20.7% of Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 boards members, and only five FTSE 100 companies are led by female CEOs.

This seems like a monumental mistake. When you're playing to a 12.45 trillion-pound market, employing women in leadership roles who understand female consumers' needs is no longer just a nice thing to do to -- it's essential.

The value of having women leaders, however, is not just about understanding women's needs. We know that women process information and make purchasing decisions differently than men do, but companies that understand all of their employees' needs -- men and women -- are more likely to win and retain top talent. This is becoming increasingly important as many large economies face talent shortages.

The stark reality is that only 14% of U.K. employees are engaged -- 16% of women and 12% of men. So only a fraction of the U.K. workforce is emotionally invested in and focused on creating value for their companies every day. There is a lot that companies can do to improve engagement, but one of the key things to do is to focus on gender balance.

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Angie O'Grady

COOxist

Executive Leadership

Washington DC