A little over 8 years ago, I wrote a piece called “Losing ground on diversity?” that looked at the composition of the executive offices of Canada’s major communications companies. In December 2010, just 13 out of 83 (15.6%) executive positions were filled by women.
What do the executive ranks look like today? A visit to the corporate websites shows little progress in women joining the highest echelons of Canada’s executive ranks over the past decade.
Of 67 listed corporate executives at these 7 companies, just 12 are women (17.9%). Although the percentage increased marginally, the absolute number of women shown in leadership has declined from 13 to 12. Only Sasktel has comes close to gender parity, with 5 women among its 11 member executive listings.
As I wrote in 2010, we need to identify whether there are factors that inhibit increased representation by women in our schools. “Are we doing enough to ensure that the industry benefits from the rich diversity that defines Canada’s cultural mosaic? Is there is sufficient diversity in the secondary school programs that lead to technology fields in our universities?”
As we drive digital literacy in Canada, we need to be sure that all Canadians are actively engaged.