Ep. 173: Celebrating International Women's Day!

Mardi McBrien, Managing Director of the IFRS Foundation, and Brigitte de Graaff, CMA, CSCA, Chair of IMA’s Sustainable Business Management Global Task Force and PhD candidate at the department of Accounting of the Vrije Universiteit Amstedam, join Count Me In to talk about the role of women in sustainability. IMA's Manager of Brand Content and Storytelling, Margaret Michaels, hosts this mini-panel discussion in celebration of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8th to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. The special guests for this panel were specifically chosen for their work in the area of sustainability and to talk about the pipeline of future female finance leaders as well as their own thoughts on what unique impacts women are making in the work of sustainability. In this commemorative mini-panel conversation, Margaret leads the discussion by addressing various pieces of research to substantiate the value of women in sustainability. Download and listen now!

Contact Mardi McBrien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mardimcbrien/
Contact Brigitte de Graaff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigitte-de-graaff-134b408/
Contact Margaret Michaels: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-michaels/

IMA's Website: https://www.imanet.org/
Sustainability CFO: The CFO of the Future?: https://www.imanet.org/insights-and-trends/external-reporting-and-disclosure-management/sustainability-cfo-the-cfo-of-the-future

Research cited:

• 2021 Weinreb Group Study
• McKinsey’s 2021 “Women in the Workplace”
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10997-021-09604-7
• Deloitte: Understanding Generation Z in the workplace

Full Episode Transcript:
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. Today, we have a special conversation for you as we hosted a mini panel of speakers in honor, of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8th to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women for IMA and our management, accounting listeners, Margaret Michaels, IMA's Manager of Brand Content and Storytelling speaks with two women about their work in the area of sustainability. Marty McBrien and, and Bridget Degraph join Margaret here on, Count Me In to talk about the unique role women are playing in sustainability and the pipeline of future female finance leaders in this space. To celebrate this important day and valuable topic, keep listening as we head over to the panel conversation now

Margaret: (01:05)
It is such an honor to be facilitating this discussion today. I have a strong interest in sustainability, and I know other Count Me In listeners do as well. I want to structure this discussion around proof points about women in sustainability, which have been substantiated by research. And I want to hear each of your reactions to the statements and their implications for women's work in sustainability. So the first proof point women are playing an outsized role in sustainability work. According to a 2021 wine group study, women went from holding 28% of chief sustainability officer positions in 2011 to 54% in 2021, which is a 94% increase. So let's start with you, Marty, in your role, you've connected with so many professionals in this space. Would you share your observations on working with women leaders in this area? Does it surprise you that women are playing this outsized role and what might be responsible for the dramatic increase in their participation and in the work of sustainability?

Marty: (02:26)
Thanks Margaret. And, thank you, IMA it's a real pleasure to be here on what is, you know, such an important day to celebrate, you know, the, really amazing community of women that have played such important roles in leadership both now and in the future and sustainability across the world. You know, I'm really, privileged to be , part of such an amazing space. And, and I guess if it doesn't surprise me the statistics that you have, I've, been lucky enough actually, to emulate the success of a series of amazing female leaders before me. I always say I'm so privileged that I've just had really fabulous female boss, female leader, female mentor in this space across my 20 plus year career, that I've just been able to, you know, grow and thrive and build off them. And so, you know, I'm going to be forever grateful for that.

Marty: (03:15)
but also if you think more broadly beyond me, you have, you know, sustainability women are the ones out there that are taking active steps to educate them themselves on issues linked to sustainability, whether that be within the home, in their broader community, in their lifestyles. And so as they learn more and more, they're actually looking for roles that reflect their, and I think that's what we're starting to see today. I is women taking on roles and wanting to jump into roles that you are increasing. You know, there's never been a bigger demand for roles in sustainability ever, and, and women more and more aligning their values. We can cut onto more of that later and stepping into that space. And if we think about my voluntary career, so not my professional career, but what would I do in my free time.

Marty: (04:05)
And, I do a lot of work with, you know, small charities that focus on livelihoods and empowerment work for women. And, and it's those women in these developing countries that are being affected by climate and sustainability issues the most. And they're the ones that are then taking action and wanting to do more. And so, you know, that's the space, I think, where we can all do a bit more maybe to help, help give those, those ladies that are really trying to take action, which will have, you know, significant impacts on our future. You know, I think there's, various different ways to take these statistics, but I think, you know, it's all encouraging and it's all the right to action of travel.

Margaret: (04:39)
Bridget, do you have any thoughts on, women's outside role in sustainability?

Bridget: (04:47)
Well, I think I mostly agree with what Marty just said and, it's, it's quite funny. I hadn't heard about these numbers before, but, when I started thinking now about the research I've done within companies on sustainability and integrated, and also about the taskers actually, a sustainable business management task forces. And if I'm thinking about that, I think we are really very much, I think either about 50, 50% male female, or even with the leaders, the sustainability officers and the leaders I spoke within those companies. I think we, a majority were us indeed female, andI never really realized that actually until now. And I start thinking about it. and I, agree that there's probably not ne...