Sarah Kaplan was a witness for the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance regarding Bill C-86, Part 4, Division 18 to enact the creation of a Department for Women and Gender Equality, December 2018.

Sarah Kaplan provides testimony to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce regarding Bill C-25 and in particular its provisions related to board and executive leadership diversity.

In this Rotman Short Talk, Sarah Kaplan makes the case that gender equality is not just a social imperative but a business one, pointing to the reputational, legal, and talent costs companies face when they fail to address it. Despite widespread diversity efforts, progress has stalled because organizations are not making real, sustained investments across hiring, pay equity, transparency, and accountability. She argues that treating gender equality as an innovation challenge, rather than a compliance exercise, is the most promising path to breaking the stalemate.

In this Rotman Short Talk, Sarah Kaplan argues that despite decades of diversity initiatives, gender and racial inequality continues to persist or worsen due to two underexamined forces: backlash from those who experience equality as a threat to their privilege, and the simple fact that diversity is deeply uncomfortable. Research consistently shows that gender bias distorts our perception of quality even when performance is identical, meaning the common "lowering the bar" argument against diversity is not supported by evidence. She proposes that the path forward requires treating inequality as an innovation challenge, committing to constant uncomfortable conversation rather than occasional acknowledgment, and applying the same creative energy organizations dedicate to business problems to the problem of equity.

It may be 2017, but it’s still the case that Canadian women earn less than men, between 74 to 88 cents on the dollar, compared to men according to Statistics Canada. Canada’s ranking by the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index came in this year as just 35th out of 144 countries. Our guest Sarah Kaplan will explain how gender affects economic outcomes.

Frustrated with the lack of progress towards gender equality in the economy, proponents of diversity are building the "business case" for action. But, the "business case" may do more harm than good by sending signals that women need to be better than men in order to be included in corporate leadership, as investors or as entrepreneurs. In this TEDx talk, Sarah Kaplan shows how the myth of meritocracy unintentionally reinforces privilege and blocks further moves towards gender equality. She also suggests that if we treat the diversity challenge as an innovation problem, we can make progress.

Conventional wisdom says brainstorming works best when people from different departments or groups come together to think of new ideas or solve problems. But in this interview for Knowledge@Wharton, Sarah Kaplan, a senior fellow at Wharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management, shares that diversity is not enough. What is also necessary is in-depth expertise of the topic at hand. Those two factors together result in truly innovative ideas and also yield the highest economic value.

Research suggests that there is an untapped investment market, one that focuses on investing through a "gender lens." The Agenda explores the possibilities of this market. TVO’s The Agenda explores the possibilities of this market with GATE Director, Sarah Kaplan, Jackie Vanderbrug from US Trust and Sue Meirs of Barclays.