Frequently Asked Questions

The level of certification is communicated to each organization in a strictly confidential manner. Only platinum-level certified organizations are officially announced. For all others, Women in Governance only reveals that the organizations are certified. However, each organization can decide to reveal its bronze, silver or gold level of certification status. The names of organizations that do not qualify for certification are only disclosed if the organization agrees.

Women in Governance’s Parity Certification is a tool that enables organizations to evaluate where they stand regarding gender parity while accounting for the multiple impacts of diversity in women’s career advancement (intersectionality). It also allows them to measure their progress towards their goals and targets year over year. Reassessment helps organizations maintain their certification level and/or progress to higher levels of Parity Certification.

The time required to complete the questionnaire depends on each organization. It is faster when access to information is centralized and the required documents can be easily accessed. It generally takes between 10 and 15 hours to complete. However, recertifying organizations only need to update their responses with new events and participation data regarding programming as well as any program and/or policy updates. This substantially reduces the time required to complete the questionnaire.

Our innovative certification assesses three dimensions:

Strategy: Governance and Vision

An organization must demonstrate that, its policies and practices, strategic direction, key decision-making, and the organization’s culture are inclusive of a progressively equitable representation of women to men, while accounting for the multiple impacts of diversity in women’s career advancement (intersectionality). Further, the organization must demonstrate its commitment to achieving and sustaining parity by setting clear objectives and building a pipeline of female talent.

Action: Collective Enablers

An organization must demonstrate that the policies, practices, programs and actions are geared to facilitating the progress towards equitable representation of diverse women at all levels of the company, until parity (reflecting all elements of diversity) is achieved and sustained.

Result: Equity

An organization must demonstrate that the outcome of its strategy and actions in the area of gender equality results in progression towards equity and parity (reflecting all elements of diversity) in the distribution of women to men in terms of promotion, recruitment and compensation, at all hierarchical levels.

The Parity Certification allows participating organizations to measure their gender parity/diversity initiatives and programming at regular intervals, giving them the ability to gage and action measures in a timely manner, adding to their competitive advantage in order to attract and retain talent, among others.

New questions or themes may be incorporated into the existing questionnaire to highlight the current trends in the field of gender parity, thus allowing the assessment to remain robust, relevant and thorough. Any changes are put in place prior to a new certification cycle, and they are communicated to participating organizations.

All individuals involved in the certification process including employees, committee members and consultants sign a confidentiality agreement. Our Participant Agreement outlines the terms of use, including our commitment to preserving confidentiality. The platform that houses the certification information is also vetted and secured.

A customized report will be provided following the completion of your assessment including benchmarking and best practices. Women in Governance’s Enablement Services are also available to support your organization as needed.

Completing the assessment gives an organization a diagnostic of its strengths and opportunities to achieve gender parity in the workplace, allowing them to create a customized roadmap to gender parity.