So that March 8 becomes a day like any other again!

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TRANSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO:

On March 8, 2023, we celebrate “International Women's Rights Day”. It is the 46th official edition, since it was launched by the United Nations in 1977, with the good intention of formalizing a day whose theme would be the defense of women's rights at all levels, all over the world.

Where are we in 2023? 46 years later. Women's rights are not necessarily being improved globally, at the same pace in all countries. But what interests us at Talentis is to look more precisely at the current state of gender diversity in companies.

It can be said that today, 50% of the working population in the OECD is female. That's pretty good news. 60% of higher education graduates are women.

The problem is that after 15 years of working on this subject, we are still at about the same percentage: 0 to 5% of CEOs and CEOs of large CAC40 companies. Barely 10 to 20% in the COMEX and CODIR categories in large companies with more than 2,500 people.

And despite everything, gender diversity is progressing at the managerial level, since, when we started to think about the subject, there were barely 30% of managers who were women. Today, we are at 40%. So we can see that this notion of a glass ceiling, year after year, is becoming more and more obvious because more and more women are entering the market, more and more are being managers. This famous glass ceiling is still a real subject in 2023.

And that annoys us all deeply because we know that there is no problem with ambition. All studies show that there is the same percentage of men and women who are ambitious and who want to progress. So, it is not a subject of ambition, but it is really a subject of culture, belief and society to continue to dynamize practices that are still very entrenched.

Today, at Talentis, we support, but at the same time we are a bit tired, of this day on March 8. We like this day of March 8 for the social questions it raises, the political questions, the questions of education, but we don't like the fact that the company uses this day to all of a sudden reflect on the fact that they have female talents.

In fact it should be stopped. It is now necessary to implement actions at all levels, dashboards to promote female and male talents at the same time with equity, and have training for all employees around daily practices to recruit and promote all talents. But it is really a subject now that concerns leaders as well as managers and employees.

At Talentis, we have different ways of supporting the subject of gender diversity in companies. First, we have very good conferences to make managers aware of the subject. Then, we also have the Diversity Fresco, which is dedicated to managers and employees, more specifically “once I understand the current situation, what can I do at my level to take action?

Then, we have programs to accelerate the preparation of women in their reflections on their professional projects. And we also, of course, have webinars, conferences, workshops dedicated to managers on “What can I do on a daily basis? ” But stop the day of March 8 in business, to deal with this subject of talent only once a year and really live the subject of managerial equity, recruitment equity, and fair promotions for all talents who want it.

And it will be necessary to dynamite this belief that the problem is in women. The problem is not with women, the problem is a cultural problem. I hope that we will not celebrate the 50th anniversary of the day on March 8 and that it will no longer be a topic. In 2027, it will no longer be a subject. That's all I want.

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