Women account for 51 per cent of the world’s population, yet their representation at leadership levels is far below that. Is this fair? Does it matter? The 51% Coalition says an unequivocal “Yes!” (as does much of the literature and statistics, which bear out that female leadership provides all kinds of benefits, including the improvement of a company’s bottom line.)

Yesterday marked the launch of a powerful media campaign under an initiative titled The 51% Coalition-Development through the Empowerment and Equity, which aims to improve female representation on private and public sector boards To be specific, the mandate endorses the use of quotas, which are defined as ‘temporary measures to advance women in leadership and decision-making in Jamaica.’

The 51% Coalition emerged from research conducted by the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre, the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, the Jamaican Women’s Political Caucus, and the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica.

At yesterday’s launch of the media campaign, which will see a series of radio ads run over the next while, Dr. Marcia Forbes told the audience that “Women hold up 51 per cent of the world,” and stated that the PSAs are designed to create awareness and to serve as material that will be used to target corporate boards and Parliament. There is no doubt that  it has been an uphill struggle to launch women into leadership roles, not just in Jamaica, but globally. Indeed, Donna Duncan Scott, who sits on the board of financial services firm JMMB, admitted that even her own company is still working towards implementing a quota policy. “Women provide a different kind of leadership and we really need to own it. We have to take deliberate action,” she said. Nadeen Spence of the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative, echoed this statement. “We have a problem of not enough women aspiring to leadership,” she said, adding that current generations will pass on before improvements are made in terms of women in leadership roles.

Indeed, the statistics show a depressing reality. Check it out:

• Globally, women represent an average of roughly 30 per cent of leadership roles in the public sector or government. (Read a speech on this matter by UN Executive Director Michelle Bachelet on this subject here.)
• Women comprise no more than a fifth of all mayors in 73 out of 77 countries or areas. (Read a UN report on this subject here.)
• In 2009, only 13 per cent of Fortune 500 companies had a female CEO (see link above for reference).
• In the U.S., only 4.2 per cent of women are CEOs.
• The rate at which female leadership at Fortune 500 companies is almost stagnant: from 2009 to 2012, leadership moved from 13.5 to 14.3 per cent.
•  In Jamaica, six out of 10 of the members of Parliament (according to statistics provided by the 51% Coalition)
• Two out of 17 of members of Cabinet
• Six out of 21 members of Senate
• Three out of seven Judges in the Court of Appeal

Quotas have attracted their share of controversy over the years, with some arguing that it subverts the principle of equality. From the UN report: “While quotas compensate for actual barriers that prevent women from their fair share of the political seats, it has been argued that they contradict the principles of equal opportunity since women are given preference over men. ” The 51% Coalition acknowledged this difficulty, stating that this initiative is not intended to marginalize men, rather, it is all about “balance,” Dr. Forbes stated. This initiative could be especially controversial in a country in which the first female prime minister was elected in 2006. However, across the board, representation in Jamaica continues to languish at unacceptable levels.

The impact of this is widespread, from lack of attention and sensitivity to issues such as reproductive rights, violence against women and a simple lack of female perspective. In addition, female representation has been proven to improve a company’s bottom line, added Donna Duncan Scott. A World Bank 2012 report states that “gender equality as smart economics,” and asserts that “just as investing in women and girls can create a positive development cycle, the opposite is also true: countries that fail to empower half the population will suffer from lower productivity, slower economic growth and weaker economic development outcomes.”

The Coalition has targeted the milestone that will mark success as no more than 60 per cent and no less than 40 per cent represented at various levels.

To conclude, I will reference a statement from the UN report I linked to above. According to this research, women have fewer attendance problems. Yesterday’s launch appeared to confirm this: the two males scheduled to speak failed to present themselves.