The past decade has witnessed a seismic shift in workplace demographics, as organizations worldwide recognize that gender diversity isn’t just about equality – it’s about competitive advantage.
The rise of women in leadership roles represents one of the most significant transformations in modern business culture. But despite the best efforts of laudable initiatives such as International Women’s Day – being celebrated this year on March 8 – progress remains uneven. While some sectors and regions forge ahead, establishing new benchmarks for female representation at all levels, others lag behind, clinging to outdated paradigms that limit both individual potential and organizational success.
As businesses navigate an increasingly complex global landscape, the evidence is clear: companies that embrace gender diversity don’t just perform better – they innovate faster, make smarter decisions, and are better equipped to face future challenges. But achieving true gender parity requires more than good intentions; it demands a fundamental reimagining of workplace culture and leadership.
Globally, the average proportion of women in the workforce hovers around 40%, but this figure masks enormous variances.[1]
In seniority terms, much work remains to achieve equality. Worldwide, women assume fewer than 20% of CEO roles across all sectors, from energy (2%) to finance (5%), FinTech (7%), health (8%), and Fortune 500s (11%).[2]
Strength in difference
Success in today’s interconnected world entails mining a truly diverse seam of skills, perspectives and life experiences and more, integrating, interconnecting and invigorating them . . . together. How else to ensure business innovation? Achieve technological breakthroughs? Motivate the leaders of tomorrow? Or spread the news of success?
The alternative, nurturing a monoculture, means sacrificing valuable insights and opportunities. Worse, it means failing to inspire whole demographics to join the march towards a fairer, greener and more prosperous future.
At Abdul Latif Jameel, we are keenly aware of this untapped potential. That is why we favor a proactively inclusive approach to human resources. Women occupy a range of management positions at all levels throughout our organization, leading from the front and enriching our businesses with their energy and ideas.
Among them are Rachael Sands, Senior Legal Counsel; Dr May Omah Taibah, Deputy Managing Director of Bab Rizq Jameel and the Nafisa Shams Academy; Mona Ahmed Al Sahafi, Head of Talent Acquisition; and Lindsay Johnston, Senior General Manager, Corporate Marketing, Global Brand & Communications.
Rachael says the business’s focus on diversity and inclusion resonates deeply with her own values: “Diversity should be one of our greatest strengths. I’m excited to be part of the new generation of female leaders at Abdul Latif Jameel, and I believe we are paving the way for a more inclusive workforce.”
May praises the business’s commitment to professional growth and development: “Whether it’s supporting entrepreneurs, developing new strategies, or stepping into unfamiliar territories like production, the organization encourages continuous learning and professional evolution.”
Mona cites Abdul Latif Jameel’s merit-based culture as significantly impacting her career: “I was encouraged to take on challenging projects which opened up opportunities for women across the organization and became some of the most successful initiatives during my time with the Abdul Latif Jameel family.”
Lindsay, meanwhile, says she feels fortunate “to work in an organization which is present in so many global markets and across a varied range of industry sectors, as this provides us with so much variety.”
These female leaders, and many others like them, are the embodiment of our ethos: Abdul Latif Jameel – a place to realize your potential.
Globally diverse
Diversity, of course, runs deeper than gender. In the eight decades since its formation, Abdul Latif Jameel has developed a truly global outlook.
Today, Abdul Latif Jameel has a presence in more than 40 countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and South America, with some 11,000 Associates spanning over 80 different nationalities.
Our highly successful regional operations, spanning multiple different cultures, are united by a deep understanding and respect for local communities.
What holds these disparate enterprises together? The shared objective of creating a better future by, together, working towards a more beautiful tomorrow.
Tellingly, an inclusive approach to HR makes not just ethical sense but financial sense too.
Diversity dividend: Inclusive teams surpass rivals
Research shows the unassailable business case for diversity. One study, encompassing data from hundreds of companies worldwide, made several key observations:[3]
- Teams categorized as ‘inclusive’ – those including a mix of genders, ages and geographical backgrounds – make better business decisions than homogenized teams 87% of the time.
- Gender-diverse teams make better decisions than individuals 73% of the time.
- Teams displaying an inclusive process make decisions twice as fast as those operating within narrower structures.
- Decisions made and enforced by teams deemed ‘diverse’ deliver 60% better results over time.
“That our decisions get sidetracked by biases is now well established,” notes Professor Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School.[4] “While it is hard to change how our brains are wired, it’s possible to change the context of decisions by architecting the composition of decision-making teams for more diverse perspectives.”
Analysis reveals that companies registering in the top quartile for gender diverse executive teams are 25% more likely to display above-average profitability than companies with gender diversity in the fourth quartile.[5]
This distinction is only becoming more evident over time; as recently as 2014 the profitability dividend of a gender-diverse executive team was 15%.
With cultural and ethnic diversity, the data becomes even more convincing. In profitability terms, businesses in the top quartile for cultural and ethnic diversity outperform rivals in the fourth quartile by 36%.[6]
Despite such compelling evidence, much work still remains to promote inclusive decision-making globally.
Within a typical large company, exclusively male teams are still making around 38% of all key strategic choices. In less diverse sectors, such as technology, fewer than half of all teams with decision-making powers feature any women at all.[7] Businesses with a diverse workforce benefit from greater innovation.
Logically, employees from different backgrounds are able to contribute more cosmopolitan skills and problem-solving capabilities.
Data shows that diverse teams report an increase in innovation potential of more than 80%.[8]
Companies with diverse teams are also better equipped to understand – and indeed represent – their customer bases. Demonstrating a progressive attitude to inclusion is a high-impact marketing strategy. According to research, around half of all customer purchasing decisions are to some degree influenced by an organization’s support for equality.[9]
Diversity is also vital for recruiting top-tier personnel, being cited as an important factor for 76% of jobseekers.[10]
As diversity corresponds highly with job satisfaction it is also important for colleague retention, reducing the need for costly recruitment and training.
For all these reasons and more, Abdul Latif Jameel has long adopted an inclusive gender, race and culture-blind approach to human resources.
Inclusivity resonates across the workforce
Domestically and internationally, at Abdul Latif Jameel we endeavor to create a professional environment that is open, transparent and diverse. My colleagues and I aspire to a culture in which all people are equally valued and can pursue their career aspirations while exploring their personal potential.
Abdul Latif Jameel remains a meritocracy; commitment and success are of course rewarded.
Crucially these opportunities are open to all, regardless of gender, religion, educational background or nationality.
We pride ourselves on being a people-centric organization abiding by four core values, encapsulated by business founder Abdul Latif Jameel and now championed by current Chairman Mohammed Jameel, KBE: Respect, Improve, Pioneer and Empower.
To harmonize standards across such a diverse business base we have our own HR Center of Expertise, ensuring best-practice team-building principles worldwide.
“A big part of our vision is about nurturing a consistent culture right across the business, one that all our people buy into and live by,” explains Mariana Merino, Head of the HR Center of Expertise. “Culture is not owned by a department or a team, but by the people themselves.”
Further enhancing opportunities for women is a key strategic goal.[11]
We are developing a female leadership program, with coaching and mentoring to help more female associates transition into senior roles.
We aim to strengthen gender representation across the business, with a series of KPIs introduced to measure effectiveness.
This strategy dovetails with demographic changes in our home country of Saudi Arabia, where female participation in the workforce almost doubled between 2016 and 2022.[12]
This change is largely due to improved education, falling fertility rates and a more inclusive cultural environment.
Unleashing female talent is expected to boost the country’s economy by US$ 39 billion (3.5%) by 2032 in line with the Vision 2030 program, which among other goals seeks to boost female empowerment and youth engagement.[13]
We’re further keen to diversify our workforce by providing breakthrough opportunities for younger people. Since 1994, in association with MIT in America, the Jameel-Toyota scholarship program has helped more than 200 young people from 27 different countries develop successful careers in business and academia – an opportunity described as “life-changing” by MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles.[14]
In addition, Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) – part of Jameel Energy – runs a Talented Young Leaders scholarship program at Spain’s Instituto de Empresa University, supporting students from locations close to FRV’s sustainable developments in emerging markets. Elsewhere, Community Jameel Saudi, a philanthropy of the Jameel family, runs the Bab Rizq Jameel project in Saudi Arabia. Translating as ‘beautiful gateway to prosperity’, Bab Rizq Jameel matches people to jobs and helps create opportunities for young people to achieve economic independence.
In all instances of diversity the benefits extend beyond the individuals involved. Inclusivity isn’t just about concepts such as fairness. These days, merit-based inclusivity is a non-negotiable prerequisite of progress and success.
Talent is everywhere
In a system which tells some people their talents are valued, while dismissing the input of others, who exactly is missing out? It turns out we all are. The damage extends far beyond the women and other minorities excluded from the top table, to whole companies and entire societies.
An executive team with a holistic worldview will naturally anticipate trends and represent customers far better than rivals with a narrower outlook. Female leaders are a genuine asset, with research showing that effective decision-making registers a 95% correlation with commercial performance.[15] Come accounting time, the bottom line will speak for itself.
We cannot continue squandering the talents of vast swathes of the population. Too many risks are clustering on the horizon – global warming, resource depletion, AI, future pandemics – which will demand an unprecedented pooling of intellectual resources. At Abdul Latif Jameel, we recognize that talent and foresight can emerge anywhere. We are devoted to seeking out these qualities and providing people with opportunities to achieve their potential wherever we can.
[1] https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/countries-ranked-by-female-workforce/
[2] https://www.holoniq.com/notes/the-2024-global-state-of-womens-leadership
[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriklarson/2017/09/21/new-research-diversity-inclusion-better-decision-making-at-work/?sh=267e29904cbf
[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriklarson/2017/09/21/new-research-diversity-inclusion-better-decision-making-at-work/?sh=267e29904cbf
[5] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
[6] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
[7] https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriklarson/2017/09/21/new-research-diversity-inclusion-better-decision-making-at-work/?sh=267e29904cbf
[8] https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/human-capital/deloitte-au-hc-diversity-inclusion-soup-0513.pdf
[9] https://www.fdmgroup.com/news-insights/diversity-for-business-performance/
[10] https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/diversity/
[11] https://alj.com/en/perspective/a-place-to-realize-your-potential/
[12] https://alj.com/en/perspective/developing-tomorrows-leaders/
[13] https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/en
[14] https://www.communityjameel.org/programmes/jameel-toyota-scholarship
[15] https://hbr.org/2010/06/the-decision-driven-organization
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