Women In Business
Today's Wall Street Journal has a whole special section (R1-R12) about "the Women to Watch" in 2006.
Page 1 contains fifty close photographs of fifty women. These pictures are not captioned. But reading the section through was pretty illuminating.
Of the fifty, 21 were, seemingly, bona-fide CEOs. Not a majority. The plurality was 25 senior corporate executives who were not CEOs. The remainder were three high-ranking government officials and 1 person married to money.
The last case fascinated me - it was Melinda Gates. I take nothing away from what she has accomplished, but, let's face it, it would not be there but for her marrying the right guy.
If the Wall Street Journal wanted to serve as a source of inspiration for ambitious women, I don't know how well they did, overall.
The opener: "A new crop of women leaders have moved into the corner offices of some of the world's biggest companies. And while the overall numbers aren't impressive, looking behind those totals reveals some significant signs of change.
"PepsiCo Inc. recently tapped former president and chief financial officer Indra Nooyi as its new CEO. Earlier this year, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the grain-processing giant and largest U.S. producer of corn-derived ethanol fuel, recruited former Chevron Corp. executive Patricia Woertz as the first outsider to hold the company's top job." And then there were the other 19 female CEOs.
That was about it. Former superstar at HP's helm, Carly Fiorina, has been rehabilitated by the awful showing made by her sucessor(s). And she's writing a tell-all book, which I will get and read as soon as possible.
But honestly, WSJ editors made Melinda Gates No. 1 because...well, because Bill said to:
"Melinda bonds with some constituencies more naturally than I do," Mr. Gates continues in his email. "We both love to visit sites to see what is going on," he writes, adding that she currently travels more than he can. When one of them travels solo, Mr. Gates writes, he or she shares "what surprised us [as] soon as we get a chance." If she reads a book he hasn't had time for, she's "fantastic" at conveying lessons learned.
"Gates Foundation Chief Executive Patty Stonesifer, who has known Ms. Gates for 20 years, says "her gift" is seeing the everyday impact of science -- whether it be in Microsoft technical reviews, or in "smearing gels" on her hand to get a feel for how microbicide formulas perform.
Allan Golston, the foundation's president of U.S. programs, adds that Ms. Gates also pushed a forward-looking focus at Sound Families, the foundation's program for helping Seattle's homeless with housing and counseling. Mr. Golston says she challenged the program to be more strategic, and in response the group extended its focus to at-risk families, trying to help them from becoming homeless in the first place."
There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that, except for what it seems to symbolize to women with ambition: "your best bet is marrying well."
I don't mind Melinda making the list - I just wish the PepsiCo CEO could have been Number One! It's more inspirational.
And then there's this gloomy truth from the article: the Glass Ceiling is just as resilient as ever.
"Despite the fresh faces, the overall number of women in senior corporate ranks has barely budged lately. Last year, women held 16.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs -- positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That was a rise of just 0.7 percentage point from 2002, according to a survey by Catalyst, the New York research group.
"The survey also found that women made up only 6.4% of the top five earners among corporate officers, a rise of 1.2 percentage points in the same period. These are smaller gains than Catalyst found in prior surveys, done every three years over the past decade."
Wow. Men have not done such a hot job at leading corporate America over the last generation plus, and I was really hoping that women in leadership would change things for the better.
Well, like we always said about the Cubs, wait until next year...
Page 1 contains fifty close photographs of fifty women. These pictures are not captioned. But reading the section through was pretty illuminating.
Of the fifty, 21 were, seemingly, bona-fide CEOs. Not a majority. The plurality was 25 senior corporate executives who were not CEOs. The remainder were three high-ranking government officials and 1 person married to money.
The last case fascinated me - it was Melinda Gates. I take nothing away from what she has accomplished, but, let's face it, it would not be there but for her marrying the right guy.
If the Wall Street Journal wanted to serve as a source of inspiration for ambitious women, I don't know how well they did, overall.
The opener: "A new crop of women leaders have moved into the corner offices of some of the world's biggest companies. And while the overall numbers aren't impressive, looking behind those totals reveals some significant signs of change.
"PepsiCo Inc. recently tapped former president and chief financial officer Indra Nooyi as its new CEO. Earlier this year, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the grain-processing giant and largest U.S. producer of corn-derived ethanol fuel, recruited former Chevron Corp. executive Patricia Woertz as the first outsider to hold the company's top job." And then there were the other 19 female CEOs.
That was about it. Former superstar at HP's helm, Carly Fiorina, has been rehabilitated by the awful showing made by her sucessor(s). And she's writing a tell-all book, which I will get and read as soon as possible.
But honestly, WSJ editors made Melinda Gates No. 1 because...well, because Bill said to:
"Melinda bonds with some constituencies more naturally than I do," Mr. Gates continues in his email. "We both love to visit sites to see what is going on," he writes, adding that she currently travels more than he can. When one of them travels solo, Mr. Gates writes, he or she shares "what surprised us [as] soon as we get a chance." If she reads a book he hasn't had time for, she's "fantastic" at conveying lessons learned.
"Gates Foundation Chief Executive Patty Stonesifer, who has known Ms. Gates for 20 years, says "her gift" is seeing the everyday impact of science -- whether it be in Microsoft technical reviews, or in "smearing gels" on her hand to get a feel for how microbicide formulas perform.
Allan Golston, the foundation's president of U.S. programs, adds that Ms. Gates also pushed a forward-looking focus at Sound Families, the foundation's program for helping Seattle's homeless with housing and counseling. Mr. Golston says she challenged the program to be more strategic, and in response the group extended its focus to at-risk families, trying to help them from becoming homeless in the first place."
There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that, except for what it seems to symbolize to women with ambition: "your best bet is marrying well."
I don't mind Melinda making the list - I just wish the PepsiCo CEO could have been Number One! It's more inspirational.
And then there's this gloomy truth from the article: the Glass Ceiling is just as resilient as ever.
"Despite the fresh faces, the overall number of women in senior corporate ranks has barely budged lately. Last year, women held 16.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs -- positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That was a rise of just 0.7 percentage point from 2002, according to a survey by Catalyst, the New York research group.
"The survey also found that women made up only 6.4% of the top five earners among corporate officers, a rise of 1.2 percentage points in the same period. These are smaller gains than Catalyst found in prior surveys, done every three years over the past decade."
Wow. Men have not done such a hot job at leading corporate America over the last generation plus, and I was really hoping that women in leadership would change things for the better.
Well, like we always said about the Cubs, wait until next year...
posted by John Bernat @ 3:23 PM
1 Comments:
At Tue Nov 28, 07:15:00 AM PST,
Anonymous said…
I missed this spread in the WSJ - but then, think about who WRITES the journal - white guys with wives (sometimes, serially more than one or two - and the recent model is likely signficantly younger than the original).
As a 'corporate' female, I know the scrutiny and demands put on women in upper management 20 yrs ago...when I stepped away from corporate to parent full time in the early 90's, I hoped to return at a later date to an environment where more women were in leadership roles, where companies welcomed 'family values' (read: time off for parenting, supportive environments for moms AND dads caring for sick family members, breastfeeding encouraged for new mom's, since their babies would have less GI illness and therefore decrease probability of Mom taking more time off...).
What was I thinking?
Women get thrown off airplanes for breastfeeding - women who nurse at work, have people outside the Mom's room making 'moo' noises.
In Pennsylvania, a working woman is lobbying for the state law to exclude questions in interviews and on applications regarding marital status and children - because she was told straightfaced that 'we don't hire mom's or married women because they take too much time off.'
No, it has become more hostile, less 'family friendly,' less logical while I was out of the corporate arena.
If women in regular roles get this kind of grief, I hardly expect that women in upper mgt have had an easier time rising to CEO levels and other high level positions. They still aren't taken seriously (altho someone who marries $$ is...).
I do not look to the WSJ for 'cutting edge' forward thought on corporate leadership. The smoke filled room with the white guys is alive and well, and they want to keep it that way, thank you very much.
BTW - a trend which is noted in many different data sources is that women who've become frustrated with the corporate insanity, are some of the most innovative and productive entrepreneurs, with successful business start ups.
Felicia M. Elias
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