Suffrage Day a chance to reflect

In 1893, New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the right to vote. Suffrage Day (September 19) provides an opportunity to celebrate our suffrage achievements and look for ways to make further progress to benefit women. 
Xero MD Anna Curzon reflects on the importance of suffrage and what it means for women in business and technology.

On days like Suffrage Day, it’s important to reflect on the issue of gender equality and diversity, and celebrate what has been achieved since Kate Sheppard’s day. We know in the technology industry, where I work, there is still much work we have to do. 

At Xero, we’re acutely aware that women are under-represented in the tech sector, and our commitment to drive change both within Xero and industry-wide is unwavering. We have made some good progress in the area of diversity, and with the work the industry is doing to attract women into a career in technology, we will see even more. 

A big part of it is making sure we’ve got the pipeline of women coming through. Compared to others, Xero is doing well. Women comprise 39% of our workforce, which is well above the average for our industry, and on the technical side of the business, women represent 27% of our workforce. That’s higher than most global technology brands where women make up, on average, 15% of the total staff number. On top of that, only 20% of all tech start-ups across the world are founded by women. 

We need to reevaluate how we raise women through the ranks and go all the way back to education. Girls that are engaged and excited about science, technology, engineering and maths at school are going to become the women who lead our country into the future. No matter what jobs the primary school students of today end up having, technology will definitely play a role – and it’s vital that we prepare them.

I’m on record saying that New Zealand needs a technology plan, where private and public sectors work as a team to help create a generation of digitally literate kids in New Zealand. Providing programmes that foster this interest from an early age is a critical piece of the puzzle if we want to see gender equality as the norm in New Zealand.

Gender diversity isn’t just about the feel-good factor: having a gender-diverse and inclusive organisation makes good business and economic sense too. According to McKinsey Analysis, gender-diverse organisations are 15% more likely to outperform their peers. McKinsey also estimates that advancing pay parity for females globally would add $12 trillion to annual gross domestic product in 2025, if every country improved at the same historical rate as the fastest-improving country. 

Not only this, but digital technology is emerging as New Zealand’s second-highest export earner. Information and computer technologies, plus software-as-a-service, have doubled as money-making sectors over the past few years. They generated $6.3 billion, or around 9% of the country’s exports, in the last year alone. At Xero, we’re looking to hire another 50 or more developers and machine-learning and AI specialists in Wellington by Christmas as the technology sector continues to boom.

“Having a gender-diverse and inclusive organisation makes good business sense; the research and statistics are irrefutable, and I’d like to think that we have moved on from ‘the why’ to ‘the how’ we make this happen.”

Having a gender-diverse and inclusive organisation makes good business sense; the research and statistics are irrefutable, and I’d like to think that we have moved on from ‘the why’ to ‘the how’ we make this happen.

I’ve seen first-hand that diversity increases employee morale, engagement, health and well-being. It equates to more innovation and a more diverse talent pool. Diversity improves productivity and performance in our organisations.

I think one of the most important things we can do, is undo our thinking about what a job is and where we work. Flexibility is seen as a ‘silver bullet’ when it comes to attracting a gender-diverse workforce. Work should be something you do, not somewhere you go. 

Technology can be pivotal in unlocking this change. It allows us all to be more mobile, flexible and collaborative in our work – whether that means you can run a business from your kitchen table between school runs or collaborate with a global team across time-zones. We can harness the strengths of diverse teams much easier with technology and be much more inclusive in the workforce.

We’ve got to be willing to change our thinking about the structure of work and the mandatory requirements needed to make work productive. Technology can undoubtedly aid this, but it’s going to be the likes of us that bring this to life for women of our generation and our children to come.