Originally published on Huffington Post

I’ve known Kellie McElhaney for a decade. An expert on gender issues in the workplace, she’s an associate adjunct professor and founder of the new Center for Gender Equity and Leadership at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Gap Inc. has had the opportunity to work with Kellie over the years and I’ve personally had the chance to experience her progressive and provocative thinking on corporate sustainability and issues impacting women in the workplace.

Next week is Equal Pay Day, which will be held this year on April 4. Unlike some fixed holidays, the date is adjusted annually to symbolize how far into the new year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. Although not a major improvement, this year’s date moved up from April 12 in 2016 to represent the narrowing of the gender pay gap by approximately one cent, from 21 cents to 20 cents. In other words, the average woman still earns only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Equality, including gender equality, is critical for companies and employees to thrive. I sat down with Kellie to talk about the latest in the important area of gender equality research.

How do women as corporate leaders improve a company’s financial, environmental, and social performance?

In my research, I look at companies with zero women on the board and those with one or more female board members as well as a company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance score, as rated by MSCI. Companies with one or more female board…

To read the full interview with Professor Kellie McElhaney, visit the Huffington Post.