Features
Where Are the Female Executives?
Gerriann Fagan, 07-12-2009
That we must ask “where are female executives?” shows we are not there yet. The current economic climate may have shifted organizational focus from diversity to survival, but diversity executives should not shelve goals to attract and retain top female talent. Successfully engaging women can improve business, and starting the process can be as simple as facilitating supportive networks and creating development opportunities.
The Numbers
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows fairly equal representation of women and men in management and professional roles, but moving up the corporate ladder is a different story. Among Fortune 500 companies, 15.7 percent of corporate officers and executive managers, 15.2 percent of boards of directors and 3 percent of CEOs are women, according to recent numbers from Catalyst.
In the state of Massachusetts, for example, The Boston Club, an organization dedicated to developing and promoting women leaders, found the number of women directors and executive officers in Massachusetts public companies fell dramatically in 2008, and the number of officers fell to the lowest rate since the organization began tracking in 2003.
Female representation is a bit more promising at the board level. According to Board Source’s 2007 Nonprofit Governance Index, women made up 43 percent of nonprofit boards. In nonprofits of less than $500,000, women made up 51 percent of the boards, and in the largest nonprofits, women made up 33 percent, according to survey respondents.
Facilitate Mobility
When women executives find a supportive workplace that values an inclusive culture, it often is easier to ascend to senior-executive roles. Consider Patricia J. Mitchell, who started her career as a summer intern. She now serves as vice president of global sales operations for IBM Global Technology Services.
Mitchell said at IBM commitment to women is built into the culture.
“It has been since 1899. We believe that when IBM named Ruth Leech vice president in 1943, she was the first such appointment in all of corporate America.”
The National Association for Female Executives has named IBM one of the top 10 companies for executive women for the past 10 years. In 1995, there were 185 global female executives at IBM; today, there are 1,000, a 500 percent increase. And IBM strives to create a work environment in which women don’t have to choose between careers and motherhood. Some 65 percent of its global women executives are working mothers, and benefits for working families include flexible work options, job sharing, child-care centers worldwide and hotlines for elder care and child care.
Further, IBM has a long-standing commitment to mentoring, educational workshops and activities that help employees advance while balancing work and family. IBM supports 40 women diversity network groups that do outreach and provide support. For instance, IBM has more than 100 Women in Technology chapters globally, which provide workshops for students, and members serve as role models for young women.
Catherine Santee, chief financial officer for CH2M Hill, an engineering and construction firm with 25,000 employees globally, said when she came on-board 14 years ago, the inclusive culture was obvious, despite the fact that engineering and construction firms often are male-dominated. CH2M Hill welcomed Santee, and soon after, her daughter, as she was eight months pregnant when she joined the firm.
Its inclusive culture is spelled out in the firm’s “Little Yellow Book,” which was written in 1982 by one of its founders, Jim Howland. Each employee receives the book filled with straight-from-the-hip thoughts on integrity, communication, honesty, admitting mistakes and humor.
Founded in 1946, CH2M Hill’s long-standing commitment to diversity got real legs in 2003 when executives, believing it was a business imperative, began collaborating on ways to attract and retain top female talent. In 2007, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed women made up less than 10 percent of the industry, and the firm faced challenges as fewer men and women applied to university engineering and construction programs. There also is a high industry dropout rate for experienced women engineers and scientists.
CH2M Hill’s initial brainstorming group included Bill Dehn, president of North American operations; Sam Iapalucci, retired CFO; and internal and external board members Joan Miller and Carolyn Chin. They set the stage for what later became Constructing Pathways for Women Through Inclusion, and the executive group supporting this program has grown from four to 60.
Components of the program include learning and mentoring opportunities, women’s leadership summits, targeted recruiting efforts and a succession planning process that ensures inclusion of women and people of color. Inclusion is tracked, and leaders are held accountable through performance enhancement processes and balanced scorecards for business groups.
In the first five years of the women’s leadership initiative, women’s executive representation increased from 2.9 percent to 18 percent, and the number of women project managers grew 47 percent an industry. Further, 31 percent of CH2M Hill’s current board of directors are women.
In a similar vein, the Asian Pacific operations at Baxter International Inc. developed Building Talent Edge, an initiative to balance gender at the management level and in other critical positions in 14 countries. Focused attention is given to recruitment and leadership, technical and functional training. Performance is measured against targets, monitored and reported. Results from these programs include a 61 percent increase in women in management and executive positions from 2004 to 2008, and four of 16 general managers are now women.
Don Wilson, vice president of global inclusion for Baxter Healthcare, said he believes women in leadership help others by sharing their experiences and career choices.
“Having women in corporate leadership positions provides role models for the next generation of leaders in the organization. Employees see that it is possible for everyone to achieve their career aspirations without having to look and act the same.”
Wilson said during an interview for a new general manager for Singapore, Linda Seah said, “You do not need to tell me about how inclusive Baxter is, I can see it all around.”
For Baxter, having women in leadership makes its inclusive philosophy credible. Its Global Inclusion Council is working to promote an inclusive environment at every level and in every country where it operates.
“We all see through our own personal lens. The more diverse the team, the better the overall output,” said Wilson.
Provide Support
If an organization is asking, “Where are the women executives,” consider the following:
1. Support must come from the top. Link gender and other diversity efforts to the business. Attracting talent, customers or becoming a global organization can be the foundation for successful programs. Setting measurable targets as is done in other areas of the business will ensure diversity efforts get the attention intended.
