What A Fall!
December 12, 2012
Women on Boards
On November 7th many of you braved the snowstorm in New York to join us with Susan Engel, Director at both Wells Fargo and SuperValu, and Sheila Ronning, founder of Women in the Boardroom. Susan was so engaging, and my favorite part of the meeting was when she declared that the 40% goal for women on boards is ridiculous and women should strive to become the majority on corporate boards. In case you missed it, enforcing board quotas has been a hot topic in Europe as well. The European Commission presented a proposal for a European law that would impose a mandatory female quota of 40 percent for all boards in the EU by 2020. While the proposal still has a long adoption process, and faces much objection, it is exciting that the conversation has shifted to concrete ideas and proposals. I can’t help but think that the new evidence that shows that companies with more diverse boards perform better added to the proposal’s support. Sheila Ronning and Women in the Boardroom have been working to get more women on boards for over ten years, and Miranda wrote about TQI’s collaboration with Women in the Boardroom.
Washington D.C.
As you know from our many emails about it, we launched in DC this year, and we had an amazing turnout at our meeting on November 8th.. It is so interesting to see women in different industries in DC and New York. I love hearing about women moving into top management positions at aerospace and defense companies, typically industries linked to DC. Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and General Dynamics all currently have women presidents.
Our meeting in DC was on the wage gap, an issue that affects women in all industries. Kate Farrar, Director of Leadership Programs at the AAUW, and Catherine Hill, Director of Research at the AAUW, came and discussed the work the organization has been doing to fight the wage gap, as well as the best ways to negotiate your salary. Here is The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap. The report has some staggering information to add to our “shameful statistics.” Did you know that one year after college graduation, women earned only 80 percent of what their male counterparts made, and ten years after graduation, women fell further behind, earning only 69 percent of what men earned? By negotiating your salary, you can help fight the wage gap. An article in The Atlantic called The Ambition Myth: Debunking a Common Excuse for the Gender Wage Gap challenged the idea that women don’t negotiate enough. It pointed out that 47 percent of women and 52 percent of men had asked for a higher salary during the hiring process, and 14 percent of women and 15 percent of men had asked for a higher position. The article also cited a recent study by the AAUW that stated that even when school selectivity, grades, choice of major, choice of occupation, and hours-worked were taken into account, the gender wage gap was still clearly an issue. This further proves that the “women make different choices” argument holds no weight (but we already knew that).
Holiday Donation
Last, for the Holiday season we decided to make a charitable donation on behalf of The Quorum Initiative community to an organization that follows our mantra of Developing skills, Building a Network, Taking Action and Creating Change. The Women’s Initiative for Self Employment is an organization that provides high-potential, low-income women with the training, funding and ongoing support to start their own businesses and become financially self-sufficient. The Women’s Initiative currently offers training and support services in more than 18 locations to more than 3,000 women each year with amazing results! One year after training, 90% of graduates reported being employed or self-employed. And five years after training graduates each provided an average of 2.5 jobs for others through their businesses. Additionally, their initiatives stimulate the local economy – every $1 invested generates $30 to the local economy.
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. See you in January to catch up and get ready for the New Year!
