Closing the gender gap Women and leadership in cooperatives Dr Linda Shaw and Dr Barbara Rawlings The Cooperative College, Manchester

02/07/12 “ We all need to acknowledge that since its inception, cooperation has upheld equality between man and women as a key principle. And yet around the world that equality is still more noticeable in its omission than its commission.” Dame Pauline Green President of the ICA

02/07/12 The research Aim: To explore gender issues in the cooperative movement globally with particular emphasis on women’s representation in cooperative leadership, including barriers and opportunities Commissioned by the Co-op Group in partnership with the ICA Gender Committee

02/07/12 Literature Review Summary Coop literature - academic papers largely qualitative Otherwise mainly grey literature and training materials Little information on women’s leadership – mostly on women’s membership Extensive and growing literature on women’s leadership in the private sector Seemingly impossible to get gender disaggregated data at leadership level Partial GD data at member level Nothing that reflects the twin paths to leadership in coops – as staff or as elected members

02/07/12 Developed countries – local studies 2001 Norway – case study of two coops 2007 NW England 2007 survey: 84 replies, 2 focus groups and 15 interviews 2009 Italy survey of coops replies

02/07/12 Developed countries - national and international survey data 2003 Italy survey of 800 women 2012 USA coop survey replies Canada – nationwide survey - ongoing - no focus on gender Global 300 – international survey - ongoing - no focus on gender

02/07/12 Findings – developed countries Least in agriculture / most in handicrafts (US) Leadership roles: ‘compassionate’ vs ‘hard’ leadership interests Time commitments and unsocial hours of boards are obstacles for women Also male attitudes, lack of opportunity and lack of encouragement Still a significant gender gap Lack of research focus on gender

02/07/12 Research - developing countries ILO statistics – collected from many sources Anecdotal evidence – projects and visits 2006 Asia Pacific ICA research coops in 14 countries responded 2009 ICA Gender Committee study – 25 responses 2011 Gender mapping visit to Kenya using interviews and focus groups

02/07/12 Findings – developing countries Representation varies across sectors and across countries In general, women are heavily under-represented in leadership roles Agriculture employs most women but has few women in leadership roles There are many political, cultural, domestic, and organisational reasons for this Very difficult to get responses to surveys

02/07/12 Summary so far There is little hard information It is very hard to get any data at all But the reports we do have underline the lack of women in leadership in coops This is due to attitudes, lack of opportunity and lack of time Women leaders add value to businesses

02/07/12 Strategies to increase women’s leadership Legal quota systems Specific campaigns Education and training High profile role models Gender mainstreaming Other strategies – eg gender budgets More and better baseline research

02/07/12 Baseline research - private sector The private sector – eg The Cranfield ‘Female FTSE’ report: Analyses FTSE 350 Uses public information And the Boardex Database And additional surveys Reporting since 1999

02/07/12 Private sector research Others include: The McKinsey Report (International) Catalyst (US) Deloittes (International)

02/07/12 Baseline research - private sector Our analysis of Coop Group figures: Gender disaggregated figures at area, regional and board level for all areas and regions Proportions of women at Group, Regional and Area levels Identities of the leadership roles women are filling No gender disaggregated information for membership generally

02/07/12 Coop group - figures Coop Board: 25% women Regional Boards: 26% women Area Committees: 39% women 7 Regional boards Highest 53% Lowest 6% 48 Area committees Highest 69% Lowest 9%

02/07/12 Conclusion Not enough data Data are hard to get Information comes from visits, reports and conferences Women make good leaders and improve decision making Women are still under-represented There are strategies for improving this