SPIEF 2021 Session to Discuss Gender Equality in Corporate Governance
The session ‘Promoting Gender Parity in Corporate Management as a Means to Advance Sustainable Development and Increase Profitability’ will be held as part of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) business programme. The session is part of the thematic track ‘Joining Forces to Advance Development’.
Experts invited to take part in the session include Alexander Ivlev, CIS Managing Partner and Deputy Regional Accounts Leader for Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and Central Asia at EY; Helga Schmid, Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); Svetlana Balanova, CEO of National Media Group; Maria Borras, Executive Vice President for Oilfield Services at Baker Hughes Company; and Igor Shekhterman, CEO, Chairman, and Member of the Board at X5 Retail Group NV. The session will be moderated by writer Alexander Tsypkin.
The year 2020 saw all-male boards disappear from the FTSE 350 for the first time ever. The crisis and pandemic have resulted in the introduction of increasingly strict equality and sustainable development requirements. For businesses to adapt to these new norms, they need to apply innovative approaches and adopt new ways of thinking and methods to running operations.
“Having an equal gender presence in a management team improves the efficiency of an entire organization. A business’s success is largely determined by its ability to find innovative and creative solutions and use non-conventional approaches to conflict and crisis situations. The diverse composition of managers is a powerful competitive advantage for a company,” Ivlev said.
Global modern corporate practices suggest that women’s presence on a board of directors adds legitimacy to a company. According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, 31.9% of business owners in Russia are women – the 6th highest figure in the world.
Experts will discuss whether gender equality can be effectively addressed through legislative measures, whether women’s presence in management can really help improve business performance as well as the role of competitions and associations in addressing gender equality within company management.
Details about preparations for SPIEF 2021 can be found on the Roscongress Foundation’s telegram channel t.me/roscongress and Instagram SPIEF-2021 www.instagram.com/forumspbru
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