PricewaterhouseCoopers' Gender Gap Study

The professional services firms have often led the way in analyzing the reasons why women leave before advancing into senior leadership ranks, in part because they understand the investment they make in training an associate in their methodology and the amount of revenue that walks out the door when they leave. They have also shared their findings as part of their efforts to communicate their commitment to advancing women leaders. The most recent effort comes from PricewaterhouseCoopers and is a film entitled Closing the Gender Gap: Challenges, Opportunities and the Future. It's based on interviews with 100 women and men around the world - from all arenas, and it makes some of the following points regarding what it will take and why it is important to close the gap between women and men.

• competing effectively for talented people will continue to be a critical factor for success, and striving for gender equity will help countries and regions increase their economic vitality
  
• companies need to plug the leaking pipeline by addressing a triple threat: women need to see opportunities outside of their traditional roles, men need to be less exclusive and society's gender expectations need to change.
• mentoring is imperative, and paths for career re-entry are essential
• companies must strive for a critical mass at the top (which some peg at 30%) - those that do will see significant, long-term, financial impact
• men have to be engaged in the process and need to understand the ways in which they will benefit from closing the gender gap

The film will be shown at the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos. The 25-minute film can be viewed online at: http://www.pwc.com/Extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/FFF26DD54B44BFA0852574E800706215