The Paradigm for Parity coalition has leaders from 28 companies such as Coca-Cola, Accenture, Bank of America, LinkedIn, McKinsey & Company, Cargill and Nordstrom uniting for one mission: to achieve gender parity in corporate leadership positions by 2030.
The coalition formed when a group of 40 women business leaders came together in June 2015 to discuss the corporate environment and the pervasive and unconscious biases that are impacting women’s advancement in the workplace.
On December 7, the coalition was announced on a conference call.
“We concluded that nothing would change unless women who already held senior positions, took charge and developed a solution for all women,” explained Jewelle Bickford, Co-Chair of Paradigm for Parity and Partner at Evercore Wealth Management. “Coming out of this meeting we created the Paradigm for Parity℠ coalition with a 5-point action plan. When implemented simultaneously, this plan will result in a workplace where power and equity can be shared equally between men and women.”
The action plan explains that implementation of the five points will result in a workplace where power, equity and equal pay can be shared with women.
The 5 steps include:
- Minimizing or eliminating unconscious bias through frequent training
- Significantly increasing the number of women in senior operating roles (near-term 30% women w/ultimate goal of gender parity by 2030)
- Measuring targets at every level and regularly communicating progress and results internally
- Basing career progress on business results and performance, not on presence
- Providing sponsors, not just mentors, to women well positioned for long term success.
The organization also introduced a toolkit, which is comprised of useful and practical actions a company can take, with a focus on better understanding the baseline, improving intake and managing with a diversity mindset.
“Building off of the momentum from the announcement, we look forward to reaching more companies and helping create a new norm in corporate leadership -one in which women and men have equal power, status and opportunity,” Beach Lin, co-chair of Paradigm for Parity and former CEO of Calisolar Inc, told DIVERGE.
“The facts are clear, companies with diversity in leadership perform better and that’s a compelling reason for a company to work to achieve parity,” Ellen Kullman, co-chair of Paradigm for Parity and former CEO of DuPont added. “We are proud of the 27 companies that have committed to work with us to achieve gender parity in corporate leadership positions by 2030 and we look forward to bringing on more companies to join us in this movement.”
