The Challenge of Gender Diversity

In this Rotman Short Talk that launched her edited book Survive and Thrive, Kaplan opens by framing gender equality as both a fairness issue and a business risk, citing examples like Walmart's decades-long class action suits and the collapse of Uber's leadership following its sexual harassment scandal. She argues that excluding or undervaluing half the talent pool is a strategic liability, and that investors are increasingly paying attention. Yet despite growing awareness and corporate diversity programs, progress has reversed in many countries, largely because organizations rely on one-off efforts like implicit bias training rather than committing real money, time, and accountability to systemic change.

Her prescription centers on two things: genuine investment and innovation. Investment means sponsoring rather than just mentoring, building broad organizational buy-in, increasing pay and hiring transparency, and holding people accountable with enforceable standards. Innovation means rethinking the processes themselves, from redesigning how startup pitches are evaluated to eliminating biased "culture fit" interviews, and applying design thinking directly to gender-based challenges. She believes that approaching equality with the same rigor and creativity organizations bring to business problems is what will finally move the needle.