Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here this morning.
I am pleased to represent the Réseau des femmes d'affaires du Québec before this committee. Our network is made up of more than 2,000 women throughout Quebec, and its influence is felt both in Canada and internationally. Our director is Ms. Ruth Vachon.
My name is Louise Champoux-Paillé. I teach governance and risk management at UQAM, and I serve on a number of boards of directors, including those of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal and of the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine.
I have worked as a volunteer for over 30 years now promoting women at the highest levels of our organizations.
My objective this morning is to speak to your mandate, which is to examine ways to increase the entry, participation, retention and representation of women at high-level positions.
I will proceed as follows: I will present two of my key findings in this regard and then offer recommendations to increase the government's involvement.
To begin, I would like to provide an overview of the representation of women at the executive level of our organizations. Since there are no statistics on career paths in Canada, I will outline the situation in the United States, as it can be assumed that our situation is not so different from that in the United States.
Although women are almost equally represented initially, we have found that men become much more strongly represented in executive positions over time.
We have heard about the glass ceiling and the sticky floor, but there is also an organizational maze in which a number of women seem to get lost. What are the reasons for this? We find that women often begin their careers at lower levels than men do, have fewer advancement opportunities in key sectors, and that men have access to more seasoned mentors, which greatly accelerates the advancement of men. Finally, work-life balance policies are not still not widely enough available in our organizations. This maze is also created by a number of stereotypes, such as that women lack strong leadership to manage teams or that they are not interested in executive positions.
My second point pertains to the representation of women on company boards of directors. My most recent study pertains to the disclosures by Canadian publicly traded companies after the Canadian securities administrators, or CSA, adopted reporting requirements with respect to their diversity practices. Although there has been some improvement in recent years—26% at large corporations—, progress is very slow. As people say, the balanced representation of men and women will not happen tomorrow. The situation has become very worrisome at the executive level, since just 15% of women hold those positions.
What can we do to increase the representation of women at all levels of our organizations? My recommendations here will focus on potential actions by the federal government. Here are 10 recommendations.
First, all crown corporations and companies in which the government is a majority shareholder must adopt gender diversity policies with targets and timelines by 2018, with the ultimate objective of approaching gender equality at all levels in the next five years.
The second recommendation is to ensure that ministers who have the authority to suggest candidates for boards of directors are invited to suggest one man and one woman for each position.
Third, as part of Bill C-25, An Act to Amend the Canadian Business Corporations Act, the government should adopt regulations imposing reporting requirements on companies valued at $2 billion or more in order to achieve 40% representation of women by 2025.
Fourth, we have to create a strong pool of women among the next generation in the public service by creating an interdepartmental committee with the mandate to promote women's rights in the government's areas of activity.
Fifth, efforts to promote women entrepreneurs must be increased. Let us recall that women own 15.7% of SMEs in Canada, businesses that create more than 1.5 million jobs. Let us also recall that businesses owned by women are among the group of small businesses with the strongest growth. So it is important for the government to take action to support their growth, specifically by including more women in its supply chain.
Sixth, efforts must be made to mobilize Canadian banks so they better inform women business creators about the solutions available to help them, and conduct internal activities to promote entrepreneurship among women.
Seventh, we recommend that a national database of women candidates be created to showcase qualified women for director and senior management positions.
Eighth, data must be gathered and disseminated on appropriate government websites regarding the representation of women and men in other decision-making roles in order to inform the public and companies about best practices for gender diversity.
Ninth, executive recruitment firms must make a commitment to put forward at least one woman in the final list of potential candidates.
Tenth, the efforts by the prime minister to promote greater gender diversity in private and public organizations must be continued and intensified, along with those related to the development of women entrepreneurs.
Achieving greater gender balance requires changes in mentality, perception and ways of doing things, and the federal government can be a key driver of change.
Thank you for your attention.
I will be pleased to answer your questions.