Women Rule the Executive Suites at These Top 10 Corporations
by Heather Cassell
The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) recently released their list of corporations that are particularly good for executive-level women. Of these, the following 10 corporations from a variety of industries including banking and finance, personal care, technology, insurance, fashion and media stand out. In alphabetical order, these corporations are a cut above the rest when it comes to women’s leadership:
v Allstate Insurance Company
v IBM
“These are very exciting numbers,” says NAFE CEO Carol Evans, who was impressed by the level of women with profit and loss responsibilities of these companies that lead to executive positions nationally and globally. She also pointed out that the top 30 companies on the list also had strong programs to help women advance in their careers. “One of the things that we are so proud of is that, of the top 30 companies, three of them have women CEOs,” says Evans, who pointed out that the national norm is that only one percent of Fortune 500 companies have women CEOs. “These companies are 10 times likely as the national companies to have a woman CEO.” She added, “They are indicators of what all companies should be doing but so few companies are doing.” The purpose of the NAFE report, she says, is to provide companies with a “benchmark” in order to compete in this ranking.
The key factors that drove these companies to the top of the list are:
Ø Professional development opportunities, including:
- Job rotations that give employees broad, cross-organizational experience;
- Giving women challenging assignments;
- Building a field of experienced women with early profit and loss (P&L) experience to fill the pipeline (those next in line for leadership positions), and then giving women responsibility for portions of their P&L experience; and
Ø Changing the corporate culture by:
- Assuring that line managers are accountable and active in the advancement of women;
- Having the CEO make the business case for diversity in the workforce and for separating gender from other diversity goals;
- Removing gender bias from evaluations;
- High-level mentoring;
- Encouraging and developing female role models and building women’s networks that focus on professional development; and
- Supporting and encouraging women struggling for work/life balance.
Liz Claiborne, the company that dresses women for success, is modest about making the list, but made the list precisely because the company knows success goes beyond appropriate work attire.
“We do not set out to specifically set ourselves apart from our competition,” writes Larry McClure, Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Liz Claiborne Inc., in a July 15th e-mail statement. “We do, however, provide a dynamic learning and development culture, a compelling portfolio of brands, and assignments with meaningful responsibility and accountability that attract the top women in our industry.”
“We were so impressed when we were looking at Liz Claiborne,” says Evans. “They have such a high percentage of women executives – 53 percent.”
Allstate Insurance Company made the list for the third consecutive year. “We are thrilled to once again receive this honor,” says Allstate spokeswoman Krissy Posey, who pointed out that Allstate has been among the top companies recognized by NAFE since early 2000. “Allstate’s workforce mirrors the diverse markets we serve. Leveraging the full potential of women in executive leadership positions is simply good for business.”
This is the third year that NAFE, which is owned by Working Mother Media, has compiled a list of top corporations for female executives, following a thorough examination of public and private companies. NAFE also reports a “disturbing lack of progress” on their web page, stating that there hasn’t been growth in the number of women serving on boards or as corporate officers for several years. Trying to explain the stunted growth, the report says that it may be due to the “misconception that the glass ceiling is gone.” Women have lost ground in running the business of business, holding only 8.9 percent of profit and loss jobs among corporate officers, down from 10.6 in 2005, according to the report.
Catalyst’s 2007 census reveals that women still hold only about 15 percent of corporate director and officer positions. Catalyst.org’s President Ilene Lang comments, “Companies are growing complacent, but just seeing one woman at the top doesn’t mean meritocracy. We should be seeing more women in senior leadership positions—close to half—given how many women have moved into middle management. The barriers still have to be addressed.”
“This is a big concern,” Evans says, “especially as the marketplace continues to expand globally. If we can’t get the top jobs in the profit and loss, being responsible for the bottom line, then that’s going to continue the stall of women at the CEO level and the top level in general.” Evans has also noticed a disturbing trend as companies continue to merge with each other in the global marketplace. “We often find that if two people are up for the same job in a merger, the woman often loses out…it’s really going to hurt women in the long run.” This is part of the reason why NAFE is going global, which, Evans says, will begin to be reflected on the organization’s Web site and in next year’s report, although the report itself isn’t going global yet.
Despite the apparent slowdown in corporate women’s leadership, some women persevered by moving into powerful new positions. The 2007 report notes Procter & Gamble’s Susan Arnold was promoted to president of Global Business units (and ranked No. 7 among Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women”) and Gina Drosos took the president’s chair of P&G’s global beauty.
As president of Campbell Soup Company’s North America Division, Denise Morrison reports directly to President and CEO Douglas R. Conant. General Mills’ Christi Strauss became CEO of Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture with the maker of Cheerios (among other baked goods) and Switzerland-based Nestlé. Turning things around in tech and retail giants, IBM’s Ginny Rometty, Senior Vice President of Global Services, is “winning accolades” for the blue chip giant’s expansion into India. Linda Dillman is leading the way for women and the environment by helping to move controversial global discount retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. towards a greener future as Executive Vice President of Risk Management and Sustainability.
NAFE has been supporting female executives and women business owners for more than 35 years and was acquired by Working Mother Media in 2007. Working Mother Media publishes Working Mother and NAFE magazines, compiles “Best Lists” for working women and produces national conferences and events.
Women have come a long way in 35 years, but much remains to be done. Evans says she wants to see more women on corporate boards and more women taking responsibility for company divisions or entire companies bottom lines.
“The competition for talent will remain heated,” writes Liz Claiborne’s McClure. “In order to continue to attract and retain high-performing women, we must continue to provide contemporary workplace solutions and practices, compelling executive assignments, professional development and mobility, and competitive compensation and rewards.”
This is not only good for women in general, but ultimately good for business. Women should hold a larger role in executive positions across the scope of major corporations.