Much has been said about the necessity of supporting women in the workplace and the business and moral cases for the same. Such a change, however, can only come about with the support of senior management and leaders within the company. The tone from the top is essential to ensure women feel included and appreciated at work, and for employees to make gender equality a top priority at all levels of the company. This is all the more important now with the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce, and with women often pulling “double shifts” to balance domestic work and employment simultaneously. So what can senior management do to support women in their workforces, and how can these changes be carried over into a post-COVID-19 world?

This webinar aimed to:

• Explain the necessity for increased women in leadership positions,
• How senior management can be held accountable for D&I messaging and outcomes, particularly in light of COVID-19, and
• How companies can establish goals and targets to track and measure D&I results across all levels and departments.

In this webinar, we learnt:

• What the current leadership tone is across the Gulf Region’s Private Sector, and how companies can strategically implement D&I initiatives in the context of the Gulf
• How the tone from the top in companies make progress in terms of organisational D&I initiatives – particularly in terms of cascading D&I ideas and mandates from top leadership to middle management and below
• What some of the common challenges are pertaining to the inclusion of women in top management across Gulf businesses, and how the region fares in relation to other countries
• Plotting an effective path to transform a culture shift in organisations while including multiple internal stakeholders to create an inclusive environment in practice
• How the business case for increased diversity – particularly relating to improved organisational revenues and innovation – can be leveraged to improve D&I policies