PEOPLE
Why are we even talking about female empowerment? Words by Rachel Zammit Cutajar | Photography by Julia Boikova
With discussions of girl-power on the rise in every sphere, female empowerment seems stronger than ever. Different opinions hailing from a diversity in character, as well as nationality, colour and religious affiliation, affect the company’s bottom line. Rhi Burns, Chief Commercial Officer at Zimpler, believes that every candidate should be hired on merit, but until we can even out the score, we need to applaud every victory of the fairer sex. When you live in Malta, it’s rather impossible to get away from the hype of Eurovision, and this year’s buzz came with mixed reviews over Malta’s representative, Destiny Chukunyere, and her choice of bubble-gum pink outfit. Though there was plenty of scrutiny, many applauded the plus-size singer for her message of female empowerment. But whether it’s onstage or in the boardroom, is this really a conversation we still need to be having in this day and age? Research has shown time and again that the more female managers a company has, the more profitable it is. Economy and society have every interest in tapping into all the talent in their midst, and yet according to United Nations statistics, at the current rate of progress, we won’t reach gender parity until 2063. “We shouldn’t need to celebrate the appointment of a female CEO. This should be a non-story. A person with the right qualifications and the right attitude got the job. So what? But unfortunately, this IS something we need to celebrate, and we need to keep talking about if we’re ever going to get to a place where there are equal numbers of women on boards, equal numbers of men in nursing roles and the world evens itself out a little,” Rhi said. The All-In Diversity Project puts female participation in the iGaming industry at 40% at executive board level, with just a little less than half that number in non-executive board positions at 22.5%, and even fewer female CEOs, at just 15%. Developed in partnership with the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes University, the All-Index 2019 Annual Report looked at data from 26 organisations across the industry, which together represent more than 100 global gambling brands.
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