Gaining a Seat at the Table Remains a challenge for women in business.

By Fran Lotery and Lois Phillips Consulting

"Top performing companies have a higher representation of women on their leadership teams,” according to Ilene H. Lang, President, Catalyst, a New York based research and advisory company.

Catalyst completed a ground breaking study in 2004 that included the 353 Fortune 500 companies that sustained their Fortune 500 standing four out of five years (from 1996-2000). Catalyst found that companies that had the highest representation of women in top management, had 35.1% higher ROE (Return on Equity) and 34% higher TRS (Total Return to Shareholders) than companies with the lowest representation. Yet, in the 2002 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners, women only represented 15.7 percent of corporate officers in the Fortune 500. This is up from 12.5 percent in 2000 and 8.7 percent in 1995, when Catalyst started tracking women in top level positions, but the statistics tell only part of the story because, of the 15.7% of women corporate officers, only 9.9% hold line officer positions or “clout” positions. The remaining women are in executive “support” roles. In general, women continue to be invisible and undervalued.  95% of top earning positions are dominated by men and you can well imagine the statistics for women of color—1.6% up from 1.3% in 1999. 

In Catalyst’s last census of women board directors, board seats in the Fortune 500 increased from 12.4% in 2001 to 13.6% in 2003 with women of color comprising 3%.  Change is incremental, yet by 2010, women in the labor force will increase by almost 10 million, a growth rate almost one-third higher than men. Think of their purchasing power.

So what does all this mean? 

Women continue to struggle to gain a seat at the table.  Sheila Wellington, past President of Catalyst, in her book, Be Your Own Mentor, urges women to be strategic about every career decision.  In order to become visible in the workplace, women need to make it known that they are interested in promotion and must actively seek challenging assignments to gain the experience that will put them in contention for line positions. 

The “glass ceiling” and the “glass wall” –subtle obstacles and invisible barriers to breaking into the boardroom that keep women from gaining experience in profit and loss arenas, remain solidly in place. As a result, savvy entrepreneurial women are simply leaving corporations in record numbers and redirecting their talent towards starting their own businesses at twice the rate of men upending conventional wisdom that women are uncomfortable taking risks.   The number of 50% or more women-owned firms with employees expanded by an estimated 28% between 1997 and 2004, three times the growth rate of all firms with employees.  In other words, women are outstanding business leaders, reliable and profitable.

Women are taking control of their lives, trading corporate politics, structure, rigidity and barriers to advancement for flexibility.  Women make 80% of product purchasing decisions and represent 54% of the voters that turned up at the polls in the last presidential election  Women are more comfortable with using their intuition, are process and detail oriented and bring a different voice to the table.  Judy Rosener, Professor Emeritus, The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine, says, “Women have a tradition and history of being outsiders.  So we see things differently.  It’s not that we’re better or more ethical than men, but I think we ask new kinds of questions…that the good ol’boy network won’t say.”

The 21st century workplace requires managers to build collaborative teams, flatten the hierarchy, and embrace a transformative leadership style that takes advantage of not only a man’s voice but also a woman’s. Women managers are seen as great implementers.  Talented and experienced women in management not only want a level playing field but the right to compete for executive leadership roles while maintaining flexibility, choice and control over their lives. 

The corporations that are requiring managers to keep a Diversity Scorecard, to include “Gender Initiatives” and are allowing women to be in profit/loss C-level positions that deliver monetary results, are more profitable, as we’ve seen from the Catalyst Research, yet the Western Region lags behind the rest of the country with only 13.4% of women holding these top positions.  With the cost of housing in California at formidable levels, retaining and attracting women leaders is bottom-line smart.

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Fran Lotery Ph.D. and Lois Phillips, Ph.D. are passionate about impacting gender practices in corporations and empowering each woman to chart her own course to become “the CEO of her life.” Both Fran Lotery and Lois Phillips are business consultants, authors, and speakers with a long history of championing women leaders in politics, education, and business. This article was initially published in I-Sophia, Online Newlsetter for women investors in March 2006.

Comments

[thebizofknowledge.com]

It really is so disheartening to me that women continue to struggle against the glass ceiling imposed by external forces. I just keep wondering when we are actually going to achieve true equality in the workplace. It's been too long a fight as it is.

[kb315]

A recent study by Catalyst, a nonprofit research firm, found that companies with a higher percentage of women in top jobs posted a 35% higher return on equity and a 34% greater return to shareholders than firms with fewer female executives. Why do you think this phenomenon has occurred and what management traits do you think caused this higher performance?