Diversity & Inclusion

The Global Push for Equality

A new report ranks the world’s best markets for pay equity, career growth, benefits, and more. 

By Zee Johnson 

Equileap’s sixth annual Gender Equality Global Report and Ranking sought to find the greatest—and worst—gender equality performances spanning companies and countries around the globe. Rankings accounted for things like gender balance from the board to the workforce, pay gaps and policies relating to parental leave and sexual harassment, among other matters. 

The five highest scoring countries for gender equality were: 

  • France (55%); 
  • Spain (54%); 
  • Italy (53%); 
  • Norway (53%); and 
  • The UK (52%).  

Whilst each country in the top five increased its gender equality score by at least three percentage points from last year’s list, France could possibly be seeing the number one spot due to the country’s mandatory quotas for women’s representation among the board of directors (40%) and executives (must reach 30% by 2027, 40% by 2030). Pay gap data must also be reported to the government.  

The company who had the best gender equality ranking was Mirvac (79%), an Australian property developer, receiving the top spot for two years in a row. It achieved gender balance at the board, senior management, and workforce levels (between 40% and 60% of women/men) and came close to doing so at the executive level (38%). The company also publishes a living wage policy, a strategy to close the gender pay gap, and offers 20 paid weeks of primary carer leave and four paid weeks of secondary carer leave, among other benefits. 

Rounding out the top five companies with the best gender inclusive polices are: 

  1. Mirvac, Australia, real estate (79%);  
  2. Diageo, United Kingdom, consumer staples (75%); 
  3. Medibank, Australia, financials (75%);  
  4. Allianz, Germany, financials (75%); and  
  5. UBS Group, Switzerland, financials (74%). 

The survey shows Australian companies dominating the top 100, with 22 companies represented, accounting for both first and third place. On the other hand, the U.S., the largest data set in the survey with 1,474 companies, performed poorly in the top 100, having just 17 organisations make the list. North America, however, leads globally for representation of women in the overall workforce, as well as at the senior management and executive levels (40%, 30%, and 24%). 

Japan, the second largest market in the dataset with 589 companies, had no showing in the top 100 ranking.  

The survey found that the global average score increased from 34% to 37%, which could indicate that the push for overall equality is making positive strides. 

Tags: Diversity & Inclusion

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