Thursday, October 30, 2008

USA

Catalyst Charts Growth of Women on America’s Corporate Boards


NEW YORK – In growing numbers, women are pushing open the doors to America’s corporate board rooms and taking a seat at the table of the largest companies in the world. In the 2001 Census of Women Board Directors of the Fortune 1000, Catalyst found that women now hold 12.4% of all board seats in the F500, up from 11.2% in 1999 and 10.9% of all board seats in the F1000, up from 10% in 1999.

“Catalyst measures the number of women board directors because in business, what gets measured gets done,” said Catalyst President Sheila Wellington. “We have seen a 25.8% increase in the number of Fortune 500 companies with women on their boards since we started counting. Between 1993 and 1996 the number jumped from 345 companies with at least one woman on their board to 417. The pace the slowed over the last five years and there are now 434 companies.”

“If the rate of change remains constant in the F500, women will occupy 25% of the board seats by 2027,” said Wellington. “We have not cracked the glass ceiling yet, but women are slowly chipping away at it. One company and one seat at a time.”

Each year since 1993, Catalyst has conducted a census of the F500 to count how many women serve on corporate boards. Each census serves as a marker for corporate America of accomplishment and of work yet to be done. In this 2001 Census, sponsored by Sara Lee Corporation, Catalyst provides for the second time an expanded look at corporate governance in all F1000 companies. Last year, these companies employed over 29 million people and generated more than 8 trillion dollars in revenue.

“To recognize companies heading toward critical mass, Catalyst developed the Blue Ribbon Board. This is the list of F1000 companies having more than 2 women on their board of directors,” said Wellington. “Although slow, change is happening. In 1999 the Catalyst Blue Ribbon Board had 296 companies. This year the number has risen to 317 companies.”

Source: Catalyst, 2001.

HONG KONG

There has been growing acceptance of the importance of full participation of women in decision-making and power sharing with men at all levels, including inter-governmental, governmental, and non-governmental sectors.

Only a small proportion of management and administration positions are held by women. Among total economically active working population, only 3% of female being promoted to management or professional levels in contrast to 10% of male promoted in the period 1995-99.

Source: Hong Kong Federation of Woman (2000).

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

FORTUNE 500

2001: Catalyst found that women now hold 12.4% of all board seats in the F500, up from 11.2% in 1999 and 10.9% of all board seats in the F1000, up from 10% in 1999.


2002: There are still 6 female CEOs in the F500: Carleton S. Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard Company; S. Marce Fuller, Mirant; Andrea Jung, Avon Products Inc; Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox; Marion Sandler, Golden West Financial Corporation ; Patricia Russo, Lucent. Women comprise 1.2% of F500 CEOs.

source: Catalyst

BRAZIL

Executivas em cargos de diretoria / Board seats held by women:

Em 2004, as mulheres ocupam 31% dos cargos de diretoria de empresas do setor formal. 31% - board seats held by Brazilian women (2004) in the formal sector.

Os cargos de diretoria ocupados por mulheres predominam em setores tradicionais femininos (de 46% a 53% na administração pública, educação, saúde e serviços sociais).

Nos demais setores as mulheres ocupam de 10% a 15% dos cargos de diretoria.


Source: Cristina Bruschini, 2007 - RAIS/Relação Anual de Informações Sociais – MTE

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

CANADA

"21 WAYS WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT SHOOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT"

WOMEN AT THE TOP

WOMEN AT THE TOP

• Fortune 500 corporate officer positions held by women in 2007: 15.4%, down from 15.6% in 2006.
• Fortune 500 corporate board seats held by women in 2007: 14.8%, just slightly higher than the 2006 percentage of 14.6%.
• Financial Post 500 corporate officer positions held by women in 2006: 15.1%, up from 14.4% in 2004.
• Financial Post 500 corporate boards seats held by women in 2005: 12.0%, up from 11.2% in 2003, and 9.8% in 2001.

THE LABOR FORCE

• In 2006, women made up 46.3% of the labor force and 50.6% of managerial, professional and related positions.
• In 2005, 59.3% of all women over 16 were in the labor force, compared to 72.9% of all men.
• Number of African-American women employed in management, professional, and related
occupations: 2,614,000 (5.2% of all people employed in management, professional, and related
occupations).
• Number of Asian-American women employed in management, professional, and related
occupations: 1,377,000 (2.7% of all people employed in management, professional, and related
occupations).
• Number of Latinas employed in management, professional, and related occupations: 1,711,000 (3.4% of all people employed in management, professional, and related occupations).
• In 2005, 53.8% of all mothers with children under 1 were in the labor force.
• The overall labor force participation rate of parents with children under 18 in 2005 was 70.5% for mothers and 94.1% for fathers.

WOMEN IN LAW

• For the 2006-2007 academic year, women made up 46.2% of law school students9, but 32.6% of all lawyers10 and 17.3% of all partners.

WOMEN AND MBAS
• Women earned 32.8% of MBAs conferred in 2005, down from 33.7% in 2004, 33.6% in 2003 and 34.5% of degrees in 2002.

Source: Catalyst (USA data).

WOMEN TAKE CARE, MEN TAKE CHARGE

The glass ceiling is firmly in place:
  • Women hold 50.3 percent of all management and professional positions.
  • Yet, only 7.9 percent of Fortune 500 top earners and 1.4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Why?
Prior Catalyst research shows that senior women executives consistently point to gender-based stereotyping as a top barrier to their advancement.

Women “Take Care,” Men “Take Charge:” Stereotyping of U.S. Business Leaders Exposed: The first in a series of Catalyst studies on stereotyping and its effects on women’s advancement in the workplace.

KEY LEARNINGS
  • Men consider women to be less skilled at problem-solving, one of the qualities most associated with effective leadership.
  • Since men far outnumber women in top management positions, this male-held stereotype dominates current corporate thinking.
  • This problem-solving stereotype may contribute to the fact that although women hold more than 50 percent of all management and professionalpositions, they make up less than 2 percent of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 CEOs.
  • Exposure to women leaders isn’t sufficient; often people with the most exposure towomen leaders hold even more stereotypical views.
The study, therefore, recommends that organizations educate managers and executives about the often latent influence of stereotyping and ways to override automatic tendencies to use stereotyping.

Perceptions of Women Leaders vs. Reality

Perceptions of men and women leaders map to gender stereotypic traits, not to
reality and fact-based information.
  • Both women and men considered more women to be superior to men at“take care” behaviors such as supporting and rewarding.
  • Both women and men considered significantly more men superior to women at “take charge” behaviors such as delegating and influencing upward.
  • Respondents were asked about their perceptions about women’s and men’s leadership behavior, not about style.
Problem-Solving: Key to Advancement

  • Women and men stereotype leaders in similar ways except in judgments about one key leadership behavior: problem-solving.
  • Women respondents said that more women were better at problem-solving than men.
  • Men respondents said men were most superior to women in problem-solving effectiveness.
But because men far outnumber women in top management positions, the male-heldstereotype—that women are poor problem-solvers—dominates current corporate
thinking. Problem-solving is crucial: It’s the competency most commonly associated with
effective leadership and hallmark trait of a CEO. In fact, it’s the embodiment of “take
charge” leadership.

For women in business, it’s a real “catch-22:” Because stereotyping causes people to lose faith in women’s problem-solving competence, they may be reluctant to follow the directions of women
leaders. With their problem-solving skills undermined, women lose interpersonal power.

This means that instead of using their credibility or expertise to influence followers, women may have to rely on their status or position to influence others. But as women comprise only 15.7 percent of Fortune 500 corporate officers, women tend to have lower status position than their male counterparts.

“Extreme Perceptions” Make It Even Harder

Being exposed to women leaders doesn’t necessarily lessen stereotyping; often, it
reinforces stereotyping, creating even more “extreme perceptions” of differences between men’s and women’s leadership.

This is especially true for women who work in traditionally “masculine” occupations where their problem-solving skills are judged particularly harshly by their own subordinates—those they rely on most to implement their plans.

Stereotyping, therefore, often makes the demands on leadership much greater for
women than for men.

A Call to Action

Hiring more women executives or instituting more gender diversity programs isn’t enough.
The study makes clear that unless organizations take active steps to eradicate this
bias, women leaders will forever be undermined and misjudged, regardless of their
talents and aptitudes.

To combat the insidious influence of stereotyping, companies can:
  • Institute more rigorous and transparent performance evaluation processes.
  • Implement a series of checks and balances to safeguard against stereotyping.
  • Educate managers and executives about the latent influence of stereotyping and ways to override it.
  • Showcase the achievements of women leaders, particularly those in traditionally male-dominated fields.
Source: www.catalyst.org

Friday, October 17, 2008

WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT






THE REASON OF CREATION OF THE BLOG // O MOTIVO DA CRIACAO DO BLOG

An overview of the universe of women, their features, attitudes, barriers and advances in the 21st century.

The creation of this blog is a result of the realization of the master's thesis of this blogger, who currently lives in China and holds her MBA. I have read, discovered and learned a lot about women and the labor market.

I share with you some of the discoveries.

I hope you enjoy!

Erika Veras


Um giro pelo universo das mulheres, suas particularidades, atitudes, barreiras e avancos no seculo 21. A criacao deste blog eh uma consequencia da realizacao da tese de mestrado desta blogueira que atualmente mora na China e realiza seu MBA.

Meu tema eh "Women in Management: a comparison between Brazil and China". Nela, sao entrevistadas mulheres sino-brasileiras que trabalham no setor de servicos.

Para a elaboracao desta tese, em andamento, pesquisei inumeros sites, livros, artigos etc.. e sao estes resultados de pesquisa que me motivaram a criar este blog.

Li, aprendi e descobri muita coisa acerca das mulheres no mercado de trabalho. Partilho com voce algumas das descobertas.

Espero que goste!

Erika Veras