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August 14 2001 - Executive women's leadership expectations are not matched by the actions and behaviour of business leaders, concludes the first comprehensive Canadian study on chief executive commitment to gender diversity. The report, Chief Executive Commitment: The Key To Enhancing Women's Advancement has been released by The Conference Board of Canada.

"Progress for women executives will continue to be slow without chief executive commitment and intentional action," said Barbara Orser, author of the report. "Our survey suggests that only 36 per cent of CEOs demonstrated a personally active, involved commitment to fostering gender diversity. More than 40 per cent express their support, but take no personal action. Women executives still aren't convinced about executive team commitment to their advancement."

CEO commitment is the key factor for an organization to be "best in class" for Canadian women, but most chief executives are not using their leadership capacity to effect change for women in their organizations, according to Orser. The report demonstrates that business leaders need a better understanding of actions women see as going beyond good intentions to showing real "executive commitment".

Chief Executive Commitment: The Key To Enhancing Women's Advancement is the second report in the Gender Diversity Tool Kit, developed to inform executives about effective practices that address barriers to the development, retention and advancement of Canadian women.