Do more women have a seat at the table in corporate boardrooms across America?
Let me toss some sobering statistics at you:
1. In 2013, only 16.9% of Fortune 500 board seats were occupied by women. (This is only two percentage points higher than it was in 2006, indicating the percentage of women moving into such boards has pretty much stalled.)
2. Companies who kept a high percentage of women on their boards over time significantly outperformed companies with sustained low representation by:
• 84% on return on sales
• 60% on return on invested capital
• 46% on return on equity
Whether you are male or female, if you re-read numbers one and two above, I think you’ll agree that they paint rather a sad picture.
Having more women on the boards of Fortune 500 companies is clearly good for business, which in turn is good for the economy.
According to a survey done by international executive search firm Spencer Stuart, 80% of U.S. corporate board members agreed that diversity in the boardroom “generally results in increased value for shareholders.”
The numbers of women in these corporate giants’ boardrooms, however, still remains low, year after year. So, what gives here? After all, it’s certainly not for lack of qualified candidates!
These statistics come to us courtesy of a fascinating article on fastcompany.com.: “Why Corporate Boardrooms Need More Women.”
I’ve discussed the subject of women breaking through the proverbial glass ceiling before in this blog. When Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg released her book, Lean In, the topic jumped to the forefront of the ongoing dialogue about women in the workplace. Sandberg gave her opinion of why and how women are being held back and are holding themselves back, and the topic received a lot of press and a lot of conversation.
But is conversation enough to change things? Is revealing the reasons why women are holding themselves back from climbing the corporate ladder right into the boardroom enough to stir any genuine movement?
One of the things I liked about the FastCompany.com article is that it highlights various initiatives currently in the works that are designed to improve women’s positions in the corporate world.
After all, there is a time for discussion, and a time for action! No amount of discussion can change the way things are without the action part.
Let’s take a look at some of the new initiatives for women’s growth that were discussed in this provocative article…
Two different non-profits, Watermark and Catalyst, are seeking to expand opportunities for women. Both groups are taking action to assist board-ready women (and let’s face it, not all women are ready for the big chair) in finding positions as corporate directors.
Let’s take a quick look at the Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors.The findings in this census support the fact that things haven’t really changed for the better for women seeking higher level positions in corporate America.
• Women held only 16.9% of board seats in 2013 — no change from last year (16.6%).
• In both 2012 and 2013, less than one-fifth of companies had 25% or more women directors, while one-tenth had no women serving on their boards.
• Less than one-quarter of companies had three or more women directors serving together in both 2012 and 2013.
• Women of color held 3.2% of board seats, essentially the same as last year (3.3%).
The FastCompany.com articles cites the 2020 Women on Boards initiative as one positive sign that we’re ready, willing and able to seek change in the status quo. This project is actively encouraging publicly traded and private companies to sign a pledge. Its purpose? For those companies’ boards to reach 20% women by 2020.
Another bright point in the sea of change is the fact that the state of California recently became the first to pass legislation that formally encourages corporations to voluntarily add more women to their board of directors.
I support these initiatives. Still, I can’t help but wonder why in the year 2014, that they are even necessary.
If, as the Spencer Stuart survey showed, 80% of corporate board members truly do agree that this kind of diversity is a positive, perhaps it’s not the old boy’s network or the so-called glass ceiling that’s keeping women out.
Perhaps we as women once again need to look to ourselves for answers — overcoming our internal struggles with owning our own success, taking risks, and otherwise using self-marketing strategies to gain further success.
What do you think? Are you interested in these kind of high visibility, high responsibility, high profile jobs?
If not, why not, and do you believe your reasons and attitudes are typical of most professional women?
If you are interested in these kinds of positions, why do you believe you have not been able to secure one? And, for the men reading this blog, I’d also love to hear your comments and experiences. Let’s continue the dialogue.