Blog by Rosie Helson (Intern)
There is much evidence to support the view that gender-diverse teams perform better than same-sex teams in business. Despite this, the gender balance at senior levels and particularly on boards in the UK is not quite so, well, balanced.
This has been shown in the 2011 Women On Boards Bis publication and is currently highlighted in the media with Hilary Devey’s new Women at the Top BBC programme.
Here we have the simple need for more women in mixed teams and on boards ultimately allowing for greater productivity.
But how to increase the numbers?
This is the all-important question of the moment as businesses and European governments alike are lobbying against a European quota stating that all company boards should comprise 40% women. They argue that national quotas, or indeed no quota at all, will allow for companies to create their own culture of diversity with the same outcome.
We know what we need, but do not yet have the answer. Yet the debate rages on- as shown at 3-5pm today in a live discussion hosted by the Guardian.
Perhaps we need to assemble a team of 50% men and 50% women to come up with the solution…