PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Earlier this week, we celebrated the successes that women have achieved in every walk of life on International Women’s Day. Whilst there are giant steps being made towards greater gender equality across the world, the latest “ The Women in Work Index 2021 ” examining female participation in work in 33 OECD countries demonstrated both the challenges and, more importantly, the prizes that can be won from closing the gender gap within businesses globally. The good news is that the female labour force participation rate has been increasing since 2011 whilst the gender pay gap and the unemployment rate amongst women has been decreasing.  However, the pace of change is still not enough and it is estimated that, at the current rate, it will take 112 years for women to achieve salary parity with men even though closing the gap would generate £1.4 trillion pounds into OECD economies. Yet there are exemplars that show the rest of the world how to make a difference in this agenda with Iceland...

Last month, the Women and Work All Party Parliamentary Group (consisting of members from the House of Commons and House of Lords) published a new guide ‘How to Recruit Women for the 21st Century’ to challenge employers and policy makers to address the persistent obstacles that women face when entering, progressing in, and returning to the workplace. Yet again, it showed that closing the gender gap remains a major issue across all major economies globally and one that is holding back the vast potential of women, especially within the corporate world. Interestingly, the best example of how much more needs to be done to address gender inequalities can be found in a recent examination of this problem within the World’s largest economy, the USA. Last year, a report from the management consultants McKinsey – which undertook a survey of over 64,000 employees across 279 major employers - showed that whilst businesses are committed to gender diversity, that commitment has simply not c...

Earlier this week, I was honoured to be able to speak briefly at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub meeting in Cardiff. Established in 2008 to provide a focal point for research, policy and practice in women’s enterprise and entrepreneurship, it has developed a range of initiatives in partnership with a range of organisations including business support bodies, higher education institutions, chambers of commerce and women business owners across Europe and beyond. It was a humbling experience listening to some of the particular challenges that women face in not only starting a business but managing it afterwards. And it may be some of those challenges that explain the statistics which show that women in the UK are half as likely as men to be starting a business which means that the economy is losing out on the talents and potential of half of its adult population. Of course, there are going to be issues that are common to all types of businesses regardless of gender but various ...

Reducing the gender gap between men and women still remains a concern in many countries. In fact, a recent report from the World Economic Forum suggests that there has actually been a recent slowdown in progress on this issue. Using a range of data sources to examine women’s participation in relation to health, education, economic opportunity and politics, the 2016 Global Gender Gap Report shows that if current trends continue, then a baby girl born today will only see the gender gap close if she lives to 83. In other words, with only 59 per cent of the economic gender gap having been closed across the World’s countries, there is considerable work left to done to ensure that the talent of the whole population is fully utilised. Whilst many may think that it is the developing world that may be dragging its heels on this equality agenda especially in relation to the workplace, the study actually shows that the sharpest decline in the economic gender gap has been in North Americ...

We all know that innovation is becoming increasingly important to the competitive advantage of nations around the World. As the OECD recently noted, innovation and job creation go hand in hand over the long term to help create an inclusive and high-employment economy that all nations aspire to. Despite this, there seems to be little we know about those amazing people who drive forward technological progress by creating innovative new products and services that, in turn, raise incomes and improve the quality of life for everyone. That is why a study published recently by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in the USA is important in shining some light on these individuals and how their age, gender and place of birth has an influence on the development of innovation. “ The Demographics of Innovation in the United States ” surveyed those who have been responsible for some of the most important innovations in America including those who had won national awards for...

As I know from personal experience, women make a real and significant contribution to enterprise and business. My mother started her own business in the early 1960s when she was 20 years old. When the bank refused to provide the funding to support her new ventures, my great aunt put her house up as collateral to secure the loan. For the last decade and a half, I have written three bestselling textbooks on enterprise and small business with Professor Sara Carter of Strathclyde University, one of the leading female entrepreneurship academics in the the World. Through the Wales Fast Growth 50, I have had the honour of meeting some truly inspirational female owner-managers who are making a real difference in their industry including Anna Bastek of Wolfestone, Rachel Bedgood of Complete Background Services, Donna Turner-Kot of the n-ergy group and, of course, the irrepressible Hayley Parsons, the founder of GoCompare. I am also currently working with Liz Brookes at Grapevine Even...

According to recent research from the USA , a record number of women in the American workforce are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families. In a finding that shows the massive change in working practices over the last fifty years, mothers now bring the majority of funding into 40 per cent of households, up from 11 per cent in 1960. And whilst most of these families tend to be headed by single mothers, the number of married mothers who are bringing in more income than their husbands is also increasing. Indeed, in nearly a quarter of American marriages, the woman is the major breadwinner. So what are attitudes of America to this finding? Not surprisingly, they are mixed. Whilst 67 per cent stated that the extra income from working mothers made it easier for families to earn enough to live comfortably, 74 per cent said that it had also made it harder for parents to raise children. Another contradictory finding is that whilst the vast majority have reject...