Corporate Governance: An International Review

"In 1950 about one in three women participated in the labor force. By 1998, nearly three of every five women of working age were in the labor force" (Heatherfield, n.d., para. 4). In 2008, the U.S. Department of labor estimates that women will make up 48% of the workforce (Heatherfield, n.d., para. 6). As the number of women in the workforce rises so do the numbers of women who hold higher titles such as Chairman, CEO, Vice Chairman, President, Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President, and Executive Vice President. This number has increased from 7.3% in 2000 to 9.9% in 2002 (Diversity statistics, 2006).

The simplicity of the role of a board member is perhaps misunderstood and misapprehended. Research indicates that there may be an issue with women under-valuing or not recognising their potential. There is no specific formula or pre-determined list of requirements to being a Board member. Different sports governing

Marie A. Chisholm-Burns states that “perhaps no sector has been more publicly scrutinized for its gender disparities than the corporate world” (312). While women tend to do most of the shopping for the household, they still lack the ability to voice their opinions about what can be done to improve consumption or shopping. USA Today recently wrote an article that was boldly named “Sexism in the Workplace is Worse Than You Thought” which talks about the gender bias women face in the workplace as they progress in their career (Chisholm-Burns 312). Since white males are considered superior in today’s society, diversity is hard to find in high-paying jobs. Because women face discrimination, many businesses struggle to reach their full potential. The glass ceiling is also very condescending and causes women to act negatively towards themselves. The discrimination in pay between men and women has caused many women to form anxiety or stress disorders, such as depression. It also causes women to not strive to be the best they can and because they struggle with this, the possibilities of having great women in leadership decreases even lower than it was originally. These low levels of female leaders also lack encouragement from good role models who would help them learn how to be a leader. If equality becomes a strong focus for corporations, then they should see a positive overall

In the recent years, many women have made progress in obtaining jobs as CEO’s of major companies, hold seats on the board of directors, and many other high profile positions however, the percentage of women and minorities that hold these positions are very low in comparison to males hence, the glass ceiling remains. The term Glass Ceiling is the “unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rings of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements” (Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995). Stereotypes and biases have created an image that women are not capable of effectively filling the role of managerial jobs. In 1995, Glass Ceiling Commission noted that women filled only 3 to

Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard, Indra Nooyi of Pepsi, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Mary Barra of General Motors, and countless other women are setting the precedent as female CEO’s in today’s society. Women and men are now more than ever beginning to be thought of as equals. This may be true in some aspects, but in leadership roles, there is a big gap. Even though women are a minority in the high ranking positions of businesses, they need to become a commonality because it is financially beneficial across the board to their company.

To emphasize the tremendous ability of women in managing, real examples should be taken into consideration. According to Harvard Business Review (2015), Debra A. Cafaro is a powerful female manager example. She is the chairman and CEO of Ventas Inc - a leading healthcare real estate investment trust. Ms. Cafaro has served as Chief Executive Officer since 1999 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2003. Under Ms. Cafaro’s leadership, Ventas has market capitalization rose to $26 billion in 2015, from $200 million. The company’s compound annual total shareholder return (TSR) was 29 percent for the fifteen year period ended 12/31/14. In addition to, Ventas was ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of its “Most Admired” real estate companies

Only 14.2% of the top five leadership positions at the companies in the S&P 500 are held by women and so out of 500 companies, there are only 24 female CEOs. According to the Forbes 2015 ranking of the world’s billionaires amongst the top 30 richest people in the world, only four are women (Forbes 2015). The richest in society are very often disproportionately represented in other positions of power; be they presidents, members of parliament, judges or senior civil servants. Women are largely absent from these corridors of power with them making up 22.1% of positions in national parliaments (Inter-Parliamentary Union

Over the past decade, fortune 500 companies have appointed women to top job positions for instance, from Mary Barra at General Motors to Indra Nooyi at Pepsi co. and Ginni Rometty at IBM (CIPD, 2015). Despite this career advancement, majority of women in middle and top management positions are still highly affected by this glass-ceiling in the workplace. In spite of the current state of female empowerment, notable achievements and involvement of women in high corporate settings, Powell and Graves (2003) states that only 10% of senior managers in fortune 500 companies are women, less than 4% of the uppermost ranks of CEO, vice-president and executives and less than 3% of top corporate earners. Statistics also suggest that as women approach the top of the corporate ladder, many appear downcast in the workplace. To understand the current situation of gender in the workplace, this section of this essay address some of the major issues associated closely to the existence of the glass ceiling and how this affects organizations today, it then recommends significant roles for HR to

One might be able to make a fleeting attempt at justifying the disparately of female representation in leadership roles if opportunities for each gender were equal or if the most qualified individuals got the jobs. When one examines the qualifications of women in the workforce however, this argument quickly loses its footing. Northouse (2013) points to the research fo Catalyst (2011) who demonstrated that, “Women earn 57% of the bachelor’s degrees, 60% of the master’s degrees, more than half of the doctorate degrees, and nearly half of the first professional degrees awarded in the United States” (as cited by Northouse, 2013, p.352). Clearly the qualifications of women are not the cause of why so few have reached the pinnacle roles in organizations. One must wonder then, what are the barriers that prevent women from achieving success.

According to McKinsey and Company European firms with the highest proportion of women in power saw their stock climb by 64 percent over two years, compared with an average of 47 percent in the year 2007. A study in Pepperdine University showed that profits at Fortune 500 firms that promoted women most were 34 percent higher than industry average when calculated in percent of revenues. And that’s not all; workplaces with women in top position have better relationships between managers and employees and are more democratic in their decision-making.

Over 50% of the work force is made out of women but women are usually under represented at every level in business corporation, but why is that? Stereotypes are part of culture and while men are seen as strong, independent and ambitious with strong achievement oriented traits women are seen as tender, understanding and most importantly as nurturers which leads to them being concerned with other.

Why are there just men and a low percentage of women work in the science, engineer and technology industry? Why most of the jobs for women are the low wage jobs? Why in the job description which might suitable for women but more men are hired than women? Why do women have less confident on achieving a higher position in management’s board? Thus, gender diversity is not the abnormal topic these days. Gender diversity has largely been conceptualized and research in many countries. This is the issue not only in society but especially in the workplace. Despite, there are many initiatives such as from organizations through voluntary approaches, or from the government through legislation or regulation to encourage the gender diversity in the business world. The fact that the proportion of women in chief executives is only 17% in Australia in 2015 but in some industries, the percentage is extremely deplorable. There are significant disadvantages for women in the workplace. The biggest barrier to women in top management levels is most of the members of corporate boards are male and they tend to select male rather than female at promotion time. Many debates showed that the glass ceiling is still an invisible barrier to prevent women to develop or promote their career. Some argued that whether the pendulum has swung too far towards to female equality and leads to the new

Women are essential in business because they give a new perspective on everything. Having only men run businesses when “80 percent of the decisions made in the household now are by the mother, by the woman,” (Pollak, 2015) simply does not make sense, because women will more commonly connect with other women customers. This is most likely why companies with one or more women board directors have higher chances at increasing their stock market value. In one study, the researchers found “that for large-cap stocks (market cap greater than USD 10 billion), the companies with women board members outperformed those without women board members by 26%,” furthermore, “For small-to-mid cap stocks, the basket of stocks with women on the board outperformed those without by 17% over the same period” (Curtis, Schmid, & Struber, 2012, p. 12). This clearly shows that having women makes a company more attractive to stockholders, which for any company is definitely a positive. As well as appealing to stock buyers, companies will grow to be more ethical if switching over to a gender diverse employment method.

He again takes the opportunity to reinforce the role that diversity has to the company strategy. Next the Corporate Strategy Council (CSC) approves Brody’s plan for a Women Global Leadership Forum. Through the attendee identification process, it gave division presidents the opportunity to truly see the female talent within their teams. Although some of the reactions were negative, this just provided a deeper look into the male employees attitudes toward women. After the attendees were identified Brody issued a survey not only to the attendees but to their corporate and senior officers. This information served as a motivational tool for the World Team meeting. This also gave the CEO positioning to mandate specific diversity measures be added to all division scorecards.

Gender in Management: An International Journal Vol. 26 No. 3, 2011 pp. 220-233 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1754-2413 DOI 10.1108/17542411111130981