Women form around 50% of the world's population, yet their global share of board seats, and board leadership, are 12% and 4% respectively, according to a recent survey by Deloitte entitled "Women in the Boardroom". In the MENA region, opportunities are increasing for women, however, the region is still struggling with female labor participation. Omar Fahoum, chairman and chief executive at Deloitte Middle East spoke at the 2015 Global Employer's Summit titled "Promoting Inclusion and Diversity – Lifting participation in the labor market," held in Bahrain during the first week of October. Fahoum discussed the current status of women on leadership platform, the most common practices to advance women into leadership positions in the region, and the multiple engagement strategies to create an inclusive, diverse culture at the workplace. "Change is occurring within companies and by governments in the Middle East, but is uneven and more can be done. 50% of companies globally have not introduced yet programs aimed at supporting women in executive advancement and management retention, and 50% of governments have not taken steps to support these outcomes," Fahoum remarked. "Studies have shown the importance of board diversity in triggering more creative solutions to business problems and enhancing corporate performance and competitiveness, hence, companies in the Middle East must strive to leverage a diverse workforce to drive business results and value. To achieve that, they need to implement an integrated, holistic diversity and inclusion strategy." "There are several initiatives and practices taking place in the region to advance women to leadership positions, offering significant advances in how to think about the optimum level of diversity in the workplace. Fortunately, these provide companies with the opportunity to articulate the business case for diversity and to introduce more powerful approaches to maximize the collective potential of their employees and operationalize the full range of their human capital," Fahoum noted. — SG
