Women in Tourism – Catalyst Accord Update

As the demand for talent, high performance and innovative thinking continues to grow, developing women leaders is more critical than ever. Leading organizations are no longer focused on why they need more women in leadership, but rather on how to accelerate progress.

At last year’s TIAC Tourism Conference, keynote speaker Tanya van Biesen, Executive Director, Catalyst Canada, talked about the importance of advancing women and presented a compelling call to action. She invited organizations in the room to sign the Catalyst Accord 2022, a pledge to help lift the average representation of women on boards and in executive positions in corporate Canada by 30% or greater by 2022. In return, she offered Catalyst’s support, including resources to amplify the pledgee’s commitment, and access to CEO-sponsored, board-ready women through the successful Catalyst Women on BoardTM program.

We’re pleased to report that TIAC members are now well represented among Catalyst Accord signatories. According the Catalyst, the following companies have made the pledge: Air Canada, The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association, Destination St. John’s, Floor 13 Inc., the Hotel Association of Canada, Meetings and Conventions Prince Edward Island, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Pursuit, The Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick, Tourism Toronto, Travel Alberta, Waterloo Region Tourism, WestJet and of course TIAC itself.

“These progressive organizations are laser-focused on making women’s advancement a priority, and we are seeing the significant and meaningful results of their efforts,” says van Biesen. “We celebrate them as role models for all of corporate Canada, and invite other organizations to join them in pledging support to accelerating progress for women by becoming a Catalyst Accord 2022 signatory too.”

Earlier this year Catalyst announced that together, Catalyst Accord signatory companies are significantly outperforming their peers in Canada -- averaging 32.8% women on boards and 36% women executive officers, versus TSX-listed companies, which average only 16.4% women on boards and 15.8 women executive officers.
Now that’s something to be proud of!