A BUSINESS ISSUE

                                                      Leadership

                                  
                         Talents                                   Markets

Why focus on gender ? If, as in France, the principle of equality of opportunity is the responsibility of companies, the main reason to be passionate about the promotion of women today is business. The expected benefits are threefold:

• Leadership: in the face of increasing globalisation and in an environment where decision-making is today, more than ever, complex, companies to be better armed, must put together management teams which have both varied and complementary profiles if their business is to be innovative and thus capable of being more successful.
• Talent: in Europe, 60% of all qualified professionals are women; businesses are realising that their capacity to attract and keep the best talent is essential to building and consolidating their competitive advantage; to do so, they can no longer afford to ignore half of the talent pool available.
• Markets: 80% of all purchasing decisions in the wider consumer market are made by women; from cars to computers, to financial products, the strategy of many businesses therefore is to know how to seize market opportunities and growth by innovations which respond closely to the demands women have.

Gender is not quite like most other corporate projects. It is a subject that affects every individual deeply, emotionally and often unconsciously. So it is essential that companies figure out if the issue is strategically significant - and why - before they rummage around this controversial terrain.