Women, Invaluable Contributors to Our Success

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On International Women’s Rights Day, let’s celebrate where we are and look at the ground we still have to cover to achieve equality.

While we have come a long way in terms of women’s contribution to our success, we haven’t yet reached our goal: gender equality in everything, everywhere, all the time.

That’s why Grant Thornton International’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team addressed this critical issue in Women in Business 2023: The push for parity, a highly insightful report released by our global network.

This report argues that if companies do not implement a culture of empowerment through flexible work arrangements, or take additional steps to support women’s access to leadership positions, by 2025 women will hold only 34% of those positions—a far cry from the UN’s goal of parity by 2030.

Fortunately, at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, we have a solid record of gender parity in management positions, 48% of which are held by women.

Daring to open the door and cross the threshold

Drawing on the experiences of inspiring women who have succeeded in becoming managers, such as Mireille Dallaire, Senior Manager – Business Systems, Information Technology at our firm, this report includes a list of the actions needed to change things for the benefit of future generations.

“We are fortunate to have been born in countries where many doors are open to us. We therefore have a duty to encourage our girls and boys to think critically about what is happening, here and in the world, in terms of rights disparities. We need to teach our girls to be bold, to say what they want and what they want to accomplish, like becoming a CEO, for example,” says Mireille.

DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality

This year, the UN has chosen to mark International Women’s Day with the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. We wanted to interview Mireille to understand what motivated her to enter an industry where women managers—and women overall—are underrepresented.

“When the opportunity arose to implement an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, I didn’t really think about whether or not it was something I was capable of implementing. I thought, ‘I like systems so I’m going for it!’ My background in accounting, assurance and compliance could have hindered me as this new path presented a very big change in direction. But the most important thing is to be on the right path, and for me, that’s systems,” says Mireille.

Our 75th anniversary is a great opportunity to reflect on how far we have come within our firm, and in society, to close the rights-and-privileges gender gap. It also allows us to continue to make strides in CSR, including acting on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #5: Gender equality.