Lack of Women in Senior Roles Seen as Opportunity for Executive Recruiters
September 18, 2014 – Despite the fact that women are the primary decision-makers for most consumer purchases, 60 percent of consumer products companies worldwide report 25 percent or less of their senior executive team is female, according to a survey of 1,270 business leaders from around the world by IIC Partners. Good news for executive recruiters: 52 percent of these companies said they expect to hire more senior-level females in the future. “This disconnect in the consumer products industry points to a pressing opportunity for companies’ succession planning. Consumer brands clearly recognize that more gender diversity at the leadership level will better reflect the reality of purchasing decisions in today’s marketplace,” said Charlotte Eblinger, director of EMEA for IIC Partners. “As companies plan for future talent needs, diversity will assume more importance, particularly in industries like consumer products and retail.” Within the retail industry, 64 percent of companies said their senior executive team was less than 25 percent female. Forty-five percent of retail companies said they expected to hire more senior women in the future. And 57 percent of retail companies said the issue of gender diversity was either “very important” or “somewhat important.”