Did that headline grab your attention? It should – let’s check out some recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Catalyst, and Board Source. In reading an article the other day in Diversity Executive magazine, I learned some interesting facts. According to the Bureau of Labor, men and women are fairly equally represented in management and professional roles in the United States. That’s right, there is about a 50-50 split in those two broad categories… which makes sense, actually.
Catalyst reports a very different story as you move up the corporate ladder, however. Founded in 1962, Catalyst is the leading nonprofit membership organization working globally with businesses to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women in business. According to Catalyst, women account for 16% of corporate officer and executive roles, 15% of Board of Directors roles, and 3% of CEO roles among current Fortune 500 companies. I don’t know about you, but those numbers continue to amaze me...why are they so low?
One place where women leaders are definitely represented is in the nonprofit world. According to Board Source (a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 that is dedicated to helping nonprofit leaders), women made up 43% of nonprofit Boards in 2007 (the last year of available statistics). In nonprofits of less than $500,000, the figure was even higher – 51%.
Obviously, women leaders bring a diverse point of view to any senior leadership position, and their experiences and perspectives make them a valuable addition to any executive team. And yet, the level of female leadership representation at the top of America’s largest companies is clearly not where it should be. That said, something is clearly attracting women to nonprofit Boards (and nonprofits to women leaders). So what’s going on here? It’s 2009, for goodness sakes!
OK, so you’re a leader, right? Consider yourself armed with some basic data now – how about sparking a conversation with your senior leaders about this? What’s your company doing to develop female leaders? What are you doing to mentor and coach junior female leaders? How can you support a female leader who could achieve great things if given the opportunity to advance in the company?
The answer to the question in the title seems to be: “in nonprofit organizations and smaller companies”. Which is a shame – corporate America is missing out on some very bright, innovative minds. See if you can get a dialog going about this in your company… I’d be interested in learning what you find out.
Comments
Hi Steve, do you know in which industries these women work in leading positions? Would be very interesting to hear in one of your next articles about the situation of women in leadership roles in India and China as well as emerging markets in general in comparison to the US. Best, Manuela
Steve - thanks for raising this issue...it's amazing how far we've come without coming as far as need to. One of my informed opinions about this issue is the need to stop creating "women's" programs and emphasize inclusion all together. Given that women make up the majority of the population and of university enrollments, failing to tap into women as leaders is ignoring a huge talent pool. Moreover, many women possess many of the life-learned components of the very inclusiveness that is essential in our knowledge-based, global economy.
Hopefully, your plug along with any number of others finally will wake us up and move us closer to fine.
I am reading a classic book called "A People's History of the United States" which provides thoughtful, if controversial, insight into the roots of both racism and sexism in America. Suffice to say that women are battling deeply rooted and subconscious preconceptions about their "place" in society and their ability to lead traditional institutions such as business, military, etc. They do not find quite such preconceptions in fields like health care and education, which is where you see many non-profits focused and I suppose explains your data to some extent (admittedly with a US focus). I actually think it is worth forcing the issue a bit, without establishing a culture of preferential treatment. Once there are enough success stories we'll reach a tipping point where gender is a non-issue and representation reaches higher up the ladder. But I completely agree with your suggestion to proactively develop women as leaders. Investing some differential effort will yield huge returns.
Hi! I just read your article and I found it natural and simple: we are talking about women leaders not managers, ok? Maybe as manager there are more women and with good results, but as leader you need something...like to be born for it! You have to be and feel natural in that position to be a leader, it's not working only to apply management rules you've learned in school. Here I consider the nature and basic instinct are vital: women are more gentle, affective, so on and for this more suitable in health fields, helping...but men has to suppor the family, bring money, they are more focused on increasing income...hunting! This is what I feel, what do you think . Regards!
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