Two bills are pending in the New York City Council regarding diversity on boards which will help increase women’s leadership opportunities. The bills require companies, as a requirement for bidding on a NYC contract, to report the racial and gender make-up of their Board of Directors and leadership.

Copy and paste the letter below to send to Speaker Mark-Viverito at mmark-viverito@council.nyc.gov.

Dear Speaker Mark-Viverito,

I am writing to urge you to bring two bills that are important to me and all New Yorkers to a vote in February. Bills 704 and 705, sponsored by Councilmembers Crowley and Mealy and 26 (?) cosponors, will create much needed racial and gender diversity, transparency and accountability to NYC’s contracting process.

These bills require companies, as a condition of bidding for a contract, to disclose the composition of their boards and officers. Bills 704 and 705 offer an innovative and effective approach to creating awareness and increasing women’s and minorities’ access to leadership. They make clear that diversity is our gold standard, and take us a step closer to ensuring that taxpayers’ money is spent with companies that promote the shared values of OneNYC of diversity, inclusion and transparency.

As a woman in a powerful leadership position, you know the importance of gender and racial diversity in senior decision-making roles, whether in the private or public sector. Encouraging more racial and gender diversity is not just the right thing to do, or the fair thing to do –it is the best thing to do for our city. By passing these bills soon, NYC will take the lead in a national trend to leverage the contracting process to influence positive societal change.

Therefore, I join with PowHer New York’s Network of 60 organizations, including national leaders, Catalyst and 2020 Women on Boards, calling for decisive action to move Bills 704 and 705 to a floor vote this month.

Thank you.

Research on Achieving Diversity in Corporate Leadership

Corporate Performance

Credit Suisse Research Institute: 2014 report which looks at over 3,000 companies in 40 countries across all major sectors of the economy confirms its prior findings that greater gender diversity on boards of directors and in management “are empirically associated with higher returns on equity, higher price/book valuations and superior stock price performance.”

Thomson Reuters (2013), Credit Suisse (2012) and McKinsey (2007, 2010, 2013), Catalyst, and Governance Metrics International, among others, have substantiated the correlation between greater gender diversity at the top and enhanced corporate performance.

McKinsey Quarterly – September 2014: “The business case for women in leadership gets better every year: women bring improved decision making at the top, more creativity and innovation, and better problem solving, stemming from greater cognitive diversity…And when three or more women make it to the top team, a company’s organizational health appears to improve on every one of the nine dimensions McKinsey tracks. Moreover, women propel economic growth.” Joanna Barsh, director emeritus, Can Women Fix Capitalism?

Catalyst: Why Diversity Matters Infographic charts 39 benefits of diversity.

2020 Women on Boards Gender Diversity Index of Fortune 1000 Companies -2014

Public Sector Initiatives

Ernst & Young – July 2014 Point of View: Increased attention to gender diversity by public officials puts pressure on the private sector, resulting in faster change.

Disclosure standards require companies to report on gender diversity policies and progress toward diversity goals. Examples include the following:

International

• In March 2015, Germany became the most significant country to commit to gender board diversity passing a law that requires some of Europe’s biggest companies to give 30 percent of supervisory seats to women beginning next year.
• In December 2014 Canada implemented Rule Amendments that require non-venture issuers to disclose annually: 1. the number and percentage of women on the issuer’s board of directors (the board) and in executive officer positions; 2. director term limits or other mechanisms of board renewal; 3. policies relating to the identification and nomination of women directors; 4. consideration of the representation of women in the director identification and nomination process and in executive officer appointments; and 5. targets for women on boards and in executive officer positions.
•  In 2010, Australia committed to a target of 40% women on the boards of government-owned companies by 2015. In June 2013, the government reported reaching its goal two years early. In addition, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick created the “Male Champions of Change” initiative to accelerate private sector efforts to recruit and promote women. Read More
• In the United Kingdom, following Lord Davies Report in 2011, the Financial Reporting Council amended the UK Corporate Governance Code to require companies to disclose gender diversity policies and progress towards meeting their objectives (including the Davies report recommendation that FTSE 100 companies’ boards are 25% female by 2015). Although voluntary, the London Stock Exchange limited “Premium Listing” to companies that comply. Since the 2011, women directors among FTSE 350 companies have increased from 10.4% to 18.5%.
• Comparable measures have been adopted or proposed in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the European Union; some include disclosures of gender of senior management as well as boards of directors.

United States

• State – California passed Concurrent Resolution 62 in 2013, which urges public companies to diversify their boards by increasing the number of women directors. The Resolution sets specific targets that the Senate hopes companies with boards of different sizes will reach by December 2016. Read More
  • Illinois, Massachusetts and Philadelphia passed similar resolutions in 2015.
• Federal – September 2015 Congressman Donald Beyer (D-VA8) announced a Corporate Gender Diversity Resolution supporting market-based efforts to boost the participation of women in leadership. This is the first initiative of a “Men for Women” House Caucus to promote economic growth through women’s empowerment.
  • Gender Diversity Investment Act, introduced by Congressman Beyer in May 2015, would allow federal workers to allocate a portion of their 401K accounts to index funds comprised of companies which have substantial numbers of women in leadership positions.

Municipal Contractors and Reporting Gender Diversity of Boards

• New York State – Bill: S.5709 (Savino)/A. 2028A (Rosenthal)  An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to requiring that bidders and all others seeking state contracts disclose their percentage and number of female executives and board members.
• New York City – Bill: Int. 704 – CM Elizabeth Crowley and Darlene Mealy (23 sponsors) Require SBS to collect data and release an annual report on the gender diversity of the boards of directors, officers, and other executive level employees of companies that contract with the City. (Int. 705 covers race.) Philadelphia passed similar legislation in 2013.

Municipal Contractors and Reporting Gender Diversity of Boards

• Federal – 2014 Presidential Executive Order requires federal contractors to provide compensation data based on sex and race, affecting 22% of U.S. workforce.
• New York State – 2 Bills which are awaiting numbers by Sen. Hoylman/AM Glick, and another by AM Rosenthal require companies seeking a contract or doing business with the state to publicly report their wage gap based on gender, race and ethnicity.
  • Bill: A.8385/Rosenthal Issuing of certificates of compliance to employers who achieves a gender pay gap of 10 percent or less
• New York City – Int. 752: Public Advocate Letitia James, CM H. Rosenthal, M. Chin, Mendez, Miller  Requires the City’s chief procurement officer to publish an annual report that provides employment details regarding vendors that contract with