#GAReads | We can't let the coronavirus slow the march toward gender equality
photo credit: bantersnaps, via Unsplash
“We can't let the coronavirus slow the march toward gender equality”:
Speaking with business leaders recently, the conversation about the post-coronavirus path forward has shifted. There is now a greater focus on how to safely reopen economies, get people back to work, and repair the financial and cultural havoc this virus has wrought. In particular, there is a desire to ensure that we use this pandemic as an opportunity to rebuild society in a way that heals long-standing social inequities.
The theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos this year—held before the outbreak of COVID-19—was stakeholder capitalism, the notion that companies must look beyond shareholders and also consider the interests of customers, suppliers, employees, and the communities where they operate. Now that we are in a global crisis, it is all too easy to set aside one of the tenets of stakeholder capitalism—gender equality—as a “nice to have” rather than a “need to have.” Let’s not make that mistake.