Welcome to our sixth annual benchmark of gender diversity in corporate Canada, which measures publicly traded companies with more than 30% women in executive roles. The good news: This year’s list includes 93 honourees, up from just 73 back in 2020. The bad news: We’re in the midst of a political and populist backlash against DEI efforts that raises some uncomfortable questions for leaders.
Women Lead Here: Corporate Canada female leadership ranked
“Bring them on.”
You might not think an offhand retort from Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase chair and CEO, a man) in response to a question from Andrew Ross Sorkin (CNBC journalist, also a man) about the risk of anti-diversity investor agitation led by Robby Starbuck (conservative activist and, you guessed it, another man)—in Davos, of all places—would encapsulate the heightened stakes of workplace equity, but welcome to 2025. Everyone has a take on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) now, even one of the most infamous sharks on Wall Street.
How did we get here?
First came the backlash: Beginning last summer, a few big companies, including John Deere and Toyota, started publicly scuttling corporate diversity initiatives. This quickly evolved into something of a movement, with several major enterprises loudly (Google, Walmart) or quietly (Disney, McDonald’s) jettisoning many of the programs they’d been proudly trumpeting for years.
Then came the backlash to the backlash: an array of heavy hitters began reaffirming their commitment to the cause, including Costco, Apple, Goldman Sachs and Dimon’s own JPMorgan.
Somewhere between Elon Musk equating equity initiatives with racism and Donald Trump’s executive order to ban DEI programs in the U.S. federal government, what had been for the better part of a decade a (mostly) uncontroversial, (mostly) unquestioned tenet of (most) corporate mandates has become a lightning rod. Barely a day goes by without a headline about a household-name firm aligning with either Team DEI or Team Anti-Woke. And while the fracas originated stateside, Canada—with our surfeit of branch plants, economic dependence on the U.S. and homegrown political movements—is far from immune.
It is, to say the least, a heated moment to be evaluating the state of executive gender diversity in Canada. We have in this country a corporate sector that has been, for some years now, emphatically supportive of the professional welfare and success of women. Businesses of all stripes have launched task forces, set targets, signed pledges and invested untold resources into programs meant to move the needle. It’s now a bit weird when a CEO doesn’t spend the first week of March panelling and posting their appreciation of women. Vibe-wise, there has been genuine progress.
Suddenly facing a real threat of populist and political pressure to ditch DEI, Canadian corporations have to mount defences for their good intentions. Which wouldn’t be a problem if we had better proof that companies are, in fact, advancing gender equity.
In the nearly eight years since the #MeToo movement forced long-simmering gender inequities to the forefront, some Canadian companies have indeed made gains. But on the whole, the future has not been female. We haven’t solved sexism. In fact, there’s evidence that things are getting worse.
This prompts some uncomfortable questions for leaders charged with justifying the gender-equity goals to which their organizations have publicly committed. Do DEI doubters have a point? Have we been going about gender equity all wrong? And if so, how can organizations keep the advancement of women a priority in a year like this?
Let’s begin by reviewing two sets of facts.
First—because this does bear repeating—gender diversity carries unambiguous business value. Across industries and geographies, companies with more women in leadership roles tend to outperform those with more homogenous teams on profitability and, to a lesser extent, on stock performance. Studies have also correlated greater gender diversity with higher rates of organizational productivity, innovation and social responsibility. With women now comprising half of undergraduate business students in Canada and rapidly approaching the same water mark in MBA programs, creating welcoming workplaces is also a prudent bit of future-proofing.
Mitzie Hunter, CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, says it's in a corporation’s best interest to foster an inclusive environment.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
“The business case for prioritizing gender diversity is very well established,” says Mitzie Hunter, CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, which has researched the effects of inadequate gender representation in leadership positions. “It really is in a corporation’s best interest to have an environment that is inclusive.”
Second, most Canadian companies have struggled to translate all that potential into gender-diverse leadership teams. For this, Report on Business magazine’s sixth annual Women Lead Here report, we’ve analyzed the gender breakdown of the top three leadership tiers of every public company in Canada with at least $50 million in revenue. This year, that amounted to nearly 5,900 executives at 521 organizations.
While some companies have made real advancements—and please read on for a list of best-in-class organizations on page 50—the overall picture is a bit grim. For every marker of progress—that the share of companies with fully male senior leadership teams has shrunk (from 26% five years ago to 21% now), for example, or that more than half of public companies now have two or more women in executive roles (up from 49% a year ago)—there is a sobering counterbalance.
Less than one-third of evaluated enterprises have more women in leadership roles than they did a year ago; fully 25% have fewer. In aggregate, only 23% of executives at Canada’s largest corporations are women, down from 26% last year. The downshift is most visible at the top of the org chart, where less than 5% of companies have a woman in the CEO role—the lowest number since ROB began collecting data. (That’s just 24 women, if you’re counting. They’d all fit comfortably at one boardroom table.)
Simply put, few companies are progressing at a pace that would conclusively validate the efficacy of their gender-equity initiatives—nor rebuke a critic. “The pace of change has been glacial,” says Michelle Grocholsky, a former corporate leader who—as founder and CEO of Empowered EDI Consulting—works to help companies develop and improve equity strategies and measure their impact. This isn’t due to bad intentions, she says, nor a lack of will. Rather, it seems to be—in the parlance of Gen Z—a skill issue: “I think we, collectively, have been woefully inept at knowing how to make equity and inclusion happen inside of organizations.”
Only 23% of executives at Canada’s largest corporations are women, down from 26% last year.
To understand what organizations have been getting wrong, it helps to go back a few years.
In some ways, the pressure companies now face to declare or renounce their allegiance to DEI is a funhouse-mirror version of the movement that motivated them to embrace it in the first place. When gender inequity shifted from a back-channel bugbear to a front-burner priority in 2017, many businesses faced real pressure—from customers, shareholders and employees—to act. Many did. Some, perhaps more quickly and less thoughtfully than they should have.
Many organizations stuck to low-hanging fruit—promises, listening tours, ad-hoc training sessions—without progressing to tougher reforms, resulting in a sort of unintentional equity theatre. “A lot of the work has been driven by a very performative stance,” Grocholsky says. “The conversations have often been more about, ‘How can we meet these quotas?’ instead of, ‘How can we fix the systems that are creating inequities in the first place?’” Well-meaning actions—like bringing in a motivational speaker to boost the confidence of female employees, for example, or appointing a few women to plum roles—can make for inspiring milestones, but they rarely address the root issues that impede systemic change. “If your succession planning process is biased, no amount of empowering women is going to change the outcome of having a predominantly male slate of successors,” Grocholsky says.
Other companies delivered gender equity programming clumsily or with too heavy a hand, generating the opposite of intended effects. Leah Sheppard has seen a lot of it, as an associate professor at Washington State University whose research focuses on how gender affects experiences and outcomes in the workplace. Well-meaning managers worried about appearing prejudiced might fluff up a woman’s performance review, leading to a promotion to a role she’s ill-equipped to succeed in. Or HR might lead anti-bias training that amounts to folks simply reflecting on (and usually feeling bad about) their sexist blind spots—with no tools on offer to dismantle the situation. When attempts at do-goodery are so ham-fisted, she says, resentment can fester faster than you can say “reverse discrimination.” “We’re seeing a lot of policies that tend to be ineffective and practices that tend to be divisive,” says Sheppard. “Honestly, many of them do more harm than good—and sometimes that harm is most felt by the people they’re actually trying to help.”
Tanya van Biesen, CEO of VersaFi, which works to advance gender equity in finance.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
None of this has been helped by the tendency of gender equity—and, more broadly, DEI—to be hived off into siloed teams or discrete projects. “When you drill down, you’re dealing with societal norms, gender biases and systemic barriers, all working together,” says Tanya van Biesen, CEO of VersaFi, which works to advance gender equity in finance. “All these things need to be addressed at the same time.” But few organizations equip their DEI teams to permeate all aspects of what they do—to infiltrate the wiring, as it were—which can make what should be a core strategic imperative feel like a side project. “When equity is separated out from business outcomes, it becomes this dangling participle,” van Biesen says. “And it gets defunded the minute the economy goes sideways.”
None of these fumbles represent fatal flaws—and, indeed, each can be corrected with a few thoughtful tweaks—but they do little to help the cause.
(A quick side note: If you want to adopt initiatives that experts consider to be slam dunks, here’s a very abridged to-do list: Provide pathways from mentorship to career advancement. Measure your progress and report on it clearly—even when it’s bad. Make sure every woman hired to a big job is qualified, supported and resourced to succeed.)
Less than one-third of evaluated enterprises have more women in leadership roles than they did a year ago; fully 25% have fewer.
Still, better policies and reforms alone won’t keep the Robby Starbucks of the world at bay. If you feel compelled—by circumstance or by an abundance of caution—to strengthen the case for equity in your organization, experts recommend the following actions.
Begin by tackling the most pernicious talking points driving anti-DEI sentiments—ideally, with proof points from within your organization. No, equity programs do not take away opportunities from other deserving parties. No, DEI and meritocracy are not mutually exclusive concepts. “That’s a very convenient way to make an argument, but it lacks any credibility,” van Biesen says. Nonetheless, organizations should not only strive for merit-based systems, but also to make sure the rhetoric explicitly links the two, because they were never de-linked. No, gender equity is not a distraction from, nor incompatible with, the obligation to deliver value to shareholders. “The backlash is grounded in fear,” she continues. “And the way to address fear is through education.”
Then, start treating the matter as part of your core business strategy. The companies that have been the loudest, and most successful, champions of equity—your Costcos, your Apples, your Goldman Sachses—aren’t just doing it for clout. They measure how their diverse teams influence such brass-tack metrics as financial performance, market-share gains, talent acquisition and shareholder returns.
“It’s not just about values,” says Rachel Baptiste, the founder and chief empowerment officer at Lumen Consulting Group, which works with organizations to create better cultures of inclusion at work. “It’s about the value of equity from a financial standpoint and being able to translate that to shareholders.” For further oomph, Baptiste recommends tying qualitative and quantitative equity goals to executive compensation, and giving all stakeholders—all the way down the org chart—ownership and accountability. “You need multiple partners, at every level,” Baptiste says. “That’s how you move the best of intentions to meaningful action that is sticky and sustainable over time.”
Rachel Baptiste, the founder of Lumen Consulting Group, which works with organizations to create better cultures of inclusion at work.Supplied
Above all, don’t flinch. Just because the conversation is heated does not mean you need to capitulate, even if your progress has been underwhelming to date. There can be something very powerful about acknowledging, with clear eyes, the limits of your efforts so far—and sticking to the mission anyway, with new, better, tactics. Think of it as a market pivot. “Don’t try to justify past practices,” says Alison Konrad, a professor of organizational behaviour at the Ivey Business School whose research centres on gender and diversity in organizations. “Talk about the change you’re trying to create. Look to the future.”
If gender equity really does matter—if it really does add value—then you should feel fully confident channelling your inner Jamie Dimon and telling the haters to go scratch. “I like to think of this anti-DEI moment as the last gasp of the dinosaurs,” Konrad says. “These voices don’t reflect everybody.”
And on those days when the DEI doubters feel especially loud or when it all feels a bit hopeless? Baptiste recommends keeping your eye on the long game. “This work requires stamina,” she says. “You have to be able to say, ‘No, we are committed to our values. We’re not succumbing to the trend.’ Because that’s what this backlash is.”
Jess Johannson, Chief Human Resources Officer at Canada Goose.Supplied
Jess Johannson, chief HR officer of Canada Goose
“One of our most impactful initiatives has been our Inclusion Advisory Council, which brings together employees from different regions and departments, providing a platform for diverse voices to shape our policies and programs. The real value comes from hearing what’s working—and what’s not—from the people who live our values every day. We’ve also made significant updates to our training programs, especially around unconscious bias. They’ve helped us recognize and address bias, leading to a more inclusive environment where diverse talent can grow and succeed.”
Jody Kuzenko, CEO of Torex Gold Resources
Jody Kuzenko, CEO of Torex Gold Resources.
“I’m deeply concerned, at this time, that we have men in positions of enormous power using their platforms to demonize DEI. That is only going to see the world of work degraded, and it is only going to see our competitiveness as a nation degraded.
I’m also deeply concerned that resistance will slowly devolve to resignation. Now is not the time to be resigned. Now is the time to stand up and say, ‘Look, there is a way to do this so that a whole segment of society doesn’t feel less-than.’
I describe my own commitment to gender equity—and how it’s permeated through Torex—as a commitment to equality of opportunity, not necessarily to equality of outcomes. We have done a lot of work to create the conditions and opportunities for young women to come, stay, rise and thrive. We may never get to 50-50, and that’s okay with me, as long as there is equality of opportunity.
I’ve always resisted setting quotas and targets, because I think that circumvents meritocracy—in appearance if not reality. It gives people the foundation for a narrative that says, ‘If you have to have so many women, you must just be placing them there, whether they’re qualified or not.’
We are a publicly traded gold mining company, so our priority, hands down, is to safely produce metal and deliver superior returns to our shareholders. I am just a CEO who happens to believe—and the data supports this—that the best way to accomplish those two things with excellence is to have a diverse employee base combating complex problems from very different angles.
When you stitch that into a common mission and strategy, you don’t get groupthink or people feeling less-than. You get a sense of equity and empowerment and mutuality and cooperation. You can create something magic, and you can outpace your peers. To me, that is the way this work needs to be framed and defined, in order to settle down this so-called backlash.”
Sandy McIntosh, executive VP, people & culture, and chief HR officer, Telus
“These moments are a test of your character as a leader. Do you have the courage to hold on to your conviction? If so, stay proud and hold the course. But if you were advancing equity causes for disingenuous reasons, you’ll have a harder time defending that. Nothing we do is rushed or reactive. I’ll give you an example: There were a lot of benefits to the #MeToo movement. But there was also a lot of pressure to fix things immediately—to put in programs, to roll out targets right away. And I pushed back. I brought people back to how we view diversity and inclusivity—how we’ve come such a long way because it’s core to how we think and fundamental to our values. If we were to over-swing by putting reactionary measures in place, we might end up getting more pushback and resistance. You have to be strong enough not to react.
I know we’re going to get asked about DEI at the next board meeting—whether we’re getting pressure or being pushed. And I’m going to tell them that we’re going to hold the course, because it’s made us successful and is deeply rooted in our DNA.”
Jennifer Twiner McCarron, chair and CEO of Thunderbird Entertainment
Jennifer Twiner McCarron, chair and CEO of Thunderbird Entertainment.
“I was initially hesitant to accept the role of CEO. The board asked, ‘What are you afraid of?’ I told them I was worried about not being able to show up for everyone in my life—as a mother, sister, friend and daughter. And I said I was concerned about not doing a good enough job, which is something we as women sometimes worry about. The board said to me ‘Well, there are more CEOs named John than there are women in the role. Why don’t you walk through the door and see what happens?’ I thought ‘Okay, yes—I want younger women to see this.’
I consider it my job as CEO to work for all stakeholders equally: for shareholders, but also employees and buyers. That is my role. It’s not just about the bottom line. That said, diversity and other social impact initiatives can be very good for business. Our company is doing extremely well, even in times of media headwinds, and I would credit that to our culture and DEI initiatives.
As the leader of the company, I have so much conviction for the difference I see that it makes—in ways that are sometimes intangible but huge. When I see the talent that it brings, the culture that it helps provide, the better decisions that we make because we’re not in an echo chamber of all of the same opinions, it really is the difference between doing something good and having the chance to do something excellent.
If you can create a safe culture—and I believe ‘safe’ is the key word here—where everyone feels honoured, where no one feels like a number, where mistakes are allowed, where people can see themselves in various parts of the business, then I think something special can happen.”
Jenny Poulos, chief HR officer of Scotiabank
“Our commitment to gender equity is solid. That’s because we recognize that inequalities and biases against gender exist—and that they’re only amplified if women identify as members of more than one equity-deserving group. We are actively working to eliminate barriers that might prevent anyone from full participation, with equality, across the bank.
As a CHRO, you’re a steward of the culture. You need to promote it. You need to embody it. And you need to ensure that you’re embedding this culture throughout the organization. But it’s not just the role of HR. It has to be everyone’s accountability.
What we’ve been hearing from our employees globally is that equity and inclusion are, and remain, priorities. And we know that’s what our clients expect, too: They want us to be representative of them.
This is a topic that stirs a lot of passion right now. But if you look back at history, this has happened several times. And I believe that when these things happen, it only makes us stronger.”
Meghan Roach, CEO of Roots
Meghan Roach, CEO of Roots.
“As CEO, it falls to me to make sure I’m reinforcing the importance of gender equality, and DEI more broadly, in our workforce—and that we’re not just doing it for the sake of doing it.
We’re a business. We try to hire the best people to the company, and we are fundamentally a meritocracy. It’s interesting: When I talk to people about this, sometimes that comes into question, that because we’re focused on equality, we might not be hiring the best people. But here’s what I say to that: If you look at the Canadian population between the ages of 25 and 64, the workforce is roughly equal between men and women. But when you look at post-secondary education, women actually exceed men, in terms of qualifications.
That doesn’t mean that if I had to choose between a man and a woman for a role I’d automatically hire a woman. What it does mean is that I’m making sure that there is gender diversity at the table in terms of those we interview.
We always do case studies with candidates to make sure that the final person we’re hiring can really do the job. In the end we hire who does the case study best. But because we push so hard to make sure that we have diversity in the candidates, and because we push so hard to make sure that the voices around the table also bring different perspectives, we have tended to hire a more equal number of men and women.
If you think about the business in terms of a meritocracy, you have to push yourself to make sure you have the best people in the pipeline. There are great women out there. They just need to be given an opportunity to come to the table and show themselves.”
Josée Girard, senior VP and chief HR officer of CN Rail
“Nobody wants to feel that they’ve received a job or promotion because they come from an underrepresented group. That can make progress slower. We operate in a male-dominated industry. We don’t have a high proportion of women among our unionized workers. If we were to make a stand to promote more women and not take into account the makeup of the base, it might be much faster for us to get to a certain quota, but that has never been our approach. We believe in sustainable progress. We’re in a business where we need to perform, and we want to make sure that whenever anyone gets a role or promotion, it is well deserved.”
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