Women and Corporate Leadership

A recent Wall Street Journal article by Carol Hymowitz takes stock of the availability of positions of corporate leadership to women. Hymowitz cites several recent positive developments in this arena, including Irene Rosenfeld becoming the CEO of Kraft Foods and Patricia Woertz becoming the chief executive at Archer-Daniels-Midland, both of which are leading companies in their fields. Moreover, according to the article women in the United States are launching small businesses at more than twice the rate of men, and are also outperforming men in colleges and professional schools. Yet, the article asserts, on the whole women in recent years have not made significant progress in obtaining senior positions at large corporations.

Hymowitz elaborates:

The vast majority of women, who hold more than half of all management and professional jobs and have been in the pipeline for decades now, still are concentrated in entry-level and middle ranks. Last year, they held 16.4% of Fortune 500 corporate officer jobs—the titles of at least vice president and positions that require board approval—an increase of just 0.7% from 2002, according to the latest study of executive women by Catalyst, the New York research group. The survey also found women comprised just 6.4% of the top earners among corporate officers, a 1.2% rise in the same period. These are lower growth rates than Catalyst reported in prior surveys, done every three years over the past decade.

The article indicates that much debate about how to improve the current situation has been stirred up by the study’s findings. One focal point has been the need for companies to provide an environment in which women can pursue their careers in a manner that is harmonious with family responsibilities. Put most succinctly by one individual quoted in the article, “‘We’ve been trying to fix women so they fit into the lockstep male career model, instead of changing the model.’” Hymowitz also asserts that CEOs must be made to understand that it is in their best interests to have women in the hightest positions of corporate leadership, as this will result in a competitive advantage in the increasinlgy global and diverse marketplace. The article also stresses the need for women earlier in their careers to be given opportunities to hold positions with "the crucial profit-and-loss responsibility they need to vie for senior positions."

It is interesting in this context to consider the following quotation from 'Abdu'l-Bahá:

The difference in capability between man and woman is due entirely to opportunity and education. Heretofore woman has been denied the right and privilege of equal development. If equal opportunity be granted her, there is no doubt she would be the peer of man. History will evidence this. In past ages noted women have arisen in the affairs of nations and surpassed men in their accomplishments.

As noted above, recent findings indicate that in the United States women are exceeding men in educational achievement in preparation for their careers. Yet the Catalyst study indicates that women have been hindered in their attempts to obtain positions of corporate leadership. It appears, then, that the area of opportunity, stressed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is where systematic effort needs to be focused, and it is encouraging to read articles such as Ms. Hymowitz's, which illustrate an awareness of this issue and propose steps to be taken to address it.