This milestone provides an opportunity, not only to focus on the bottom line, but to reset the organisation for success, and create an environment where their most valuable asset, their people, can thrive. All the data points to the stark fact that women across organisations continue to be woefully underrepresented in senior roles of leadership and influence.

Addressing this long-running inequality won’t just support females, their career prospects and their families. Done correctly, it will improve the fortunes of organisations themselves.

With ambition and out-of-the-box thinking, organisations can increase gender balance at the top, and enable women, on all rungs of the career ladder, to move up with the same vigour as their male counterparts. It’s lazy to assume the only obstacles women face relate to the leave they take to bring their children into the world. But the ‘motherhood penalty’ is undoubtedly a major factor.

While we have witnessed welcome progress, many organisations who could do more still provide the statutory allowance, meaning even now women often have to rely on their partner’s income or return to work early. Unlike the pension offering, parental leave policies tend to be shrouded in secrecy, instead of being hailed as a progressive benefit of a 21st-century organisation reaching out to attract the best talent.

But women can face barriers regardless of parental status. We know girls outperform boys at nursery, school and university, but something changes when they walk through the doors of a professional environment. Research has shown, at the first steps on the career ladder, men are more likely to be promoted than women, setting a trend that lasts throughout their working lives.

Developing women early in their career around assertiveness, building confidence and resilience as well as addressing potential issues such as imposter ‘syndrome’ can be transformative. We know when it comes to improving terms and conditions, increasing responsibilities and exposure, or putting themselves forward for a leadership role, women tend to be less likely to adopt an assertive approach.

From my experience, that’s especially true if women perceive they have already been offered ‘a favour’ in relation to flexible working hours to accommodate caring responsibilities. Alongside this, many cite a real identity shift and, often, a loss of confidence upon returning to work after maternity leave, having gone through such a significant life transition.

Women outperform men in education, but that's not reflected in the make-up of senior management in office settings (Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Introducing transparent pay scales would make it easier for women to negotiate the compensation they deserve, and ensure discriminatory pay patterns are a thing of the past. Recently, the Scottish Parliament floated the idea of MSPs job-sharing in order to attract more female candidates. Who knows whether that would work in the maelstrom of Scottish politics, but Holyrood should be commended for considering it.

Embarking on this significant shift around how we work would undoubtedly super-charge gender balance in senior positions across Scotland. This financial year, organisations have the opportunity to take further bold steps to evolve and adapt their structures and systems to bring women onto a level playing field – and we will all reap the benefits.

Kirstene Hair is the director of Empower Coaching, which works with women and businesses across the UK to increase representation in leadership roles

Level-playing field for women in workplace would benefit the economy – Kirstene Hair

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