Age and women at work

The age of ignoring women in business is over. If firms want to thrive post-lockdown, they’ll put them on top

How we all react to this crisis will determine our world for years to come. Going back to ‘normal’ is not an option, write Margaret McDonagh , Lorna Fitzsimons and Cary Cooper

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Having more women at the top of companies makes them more profitable, better at judging risk and better at customer insight, write Margaret McDonagh, Lorna Fitzsimons and Cary Cooper ( Getty Images/iStockphoto )

ompanies with more

women in senior positions tend to perform better than others, according to research from gender diversity business, The Pipeline. If business leaders seriously want to maximise their chances during and after the huge economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus lockdown, there is no excuse –

they have to take inclusion seriously.

There is now a wealth of evidence that having more women at the top of companies makes them more profitable, better at judging risk and better at customer insight.

Our “Women Count 2019” study found that FTSE350 companies with 25 per cent or more women on their executive committees achieved a 16 per cent net profit margin while those with no women achieved just 6 per cent.