Womenomics

Research by Ceram Business School in France showed that the higher the proportion of female managers in a company, the less the share price dropped in 2008. The report's author, Michel Ferrary, concluded: "feminisation of management seems to be a protection against financial crisis".

Studies from The World Economic Forum, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Goldman Sachs show that women are the 'guarantors of growth'. Nevertheless, women remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions, despite starting their careers with equal (or more) levels of education, intelligence, and commitment than their male counterparts.

Gender is a business issue, not a women's issue:

Talent: One of the most sought after commodities, and female talent is currently underutilized
Mirroring the market: Building a diverse top leadership team, including women, which is representative of the multicultural, heterogeneous markets a company operates in provides a competitive edge and reduces the risk of being blindsided by new business products, services, and models.
Purchasing power: Women represent 50% of the market and make 80% of purchasing decisions. It seems common sense that women would provide valuable input into the way products and services they buy are developed, marketed, and sold.

*Much of the content on this page is attributed to: Why women mean business: Understanding the emergence of our next economic revolution, Wittenberg-Cox & Maitland, 2008