The Cracks Seen Around The World

by Jessica Titlebaum (Chicago)

With most Americans away from their desks for Labor Day, celebrating the waning days of summer with barbeques, burgers, and beach outings, we at The Glass Hammer felt the need for a brief respite of our own. It’s in this vein that we veer slightly from our usual realm of coverage to examine how the glass ceiling (or the breaking of it) is faring around the world.

We begin in the States, where there’s been lots of talk of late about the glass ceiling in politics and government. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin claim to exemplify the disappearance of the glass ceiling in US politics. That said, America still lags far behind other countries when it comes to women in at the top of government. In the country’s 238 year history, we can now name only two women named as vice presidential candidates; Ms. Clinton’s missed chance at the top of the ticket keeps the number of women nominated for President at an easy to manage, if embarrassing, zero.

Sarah Palin is one of eight female governors in office out of 50 states. If this is the pipeline to future leadership, she’s the first through it. There are 74 women in the House (17%), 16 in the Senate (16%). Parity at last, but pathetic all the same.

India’s Indira Gandhi. Israel’s Golda Meir. England’s Margaret Thatcher. Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto. German Chancellor Andrea Merkl. For over 60 years, even in some of what Westerners deem the most unequal of societies, women ascended to the very top echelons of their governments. Internationally, Sri Lanka wins. Two women have served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and one as President. New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ireland, The Philippines, Lithuania, Switzerland, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Finland also deserve credit for having two female leaders.

Yet, there are still so few females—40 total, 10 currently—in international leadership circles known as the Council of Women World Leaders, chaired by former Irish President Mary Robinson.

For the record, they are:
Michelle Bachelet, President, Chile, 2006-present
Helen Clark, Prime Minister, New Zealand, 1999-present
Luísa Dias Diogo, Prime Minister, Mozambique, 2004-present
Tarja Halonen, President, Finland, 2000-present
Emily Saїdy de Jongh-Elhage, Prime Minister, Netherlands Antilles, 2006-present
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President, Liberia, 2006-present
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President, The Philippines, 2001-present
Mary McAleese, President, Ireland, 1997–present
Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany, 2005-present
Yulia Tymoshenko Prime Minister, Ukraine 2005 and 2007-present

When the Financial Times interviewed Yulia Tymoshenko, she remarked that women are better at taking care of things – both kids and countries – than men are. She thinks we are more reliable than men and will give up living a normal life in order “honorably to fulfill our responsibilities.”

Mary Robinson added these thoughts in an interview with The Taipei Times: “Women are now present in critical mass. We are there politically, in business and at the community level; so why are we not having more influence? Maybe we’re accelerating the process, trying to be the pioneering front that moves a bit faster.” She says, “The passion, strength and power of women to make change at grassroots level is always underestimated,” she says. “It was underestimated when I was president of Ireland. It’s been underestimated all the time.”

American women do tend to fare slightly better in the private sector than other women around the world. There are 11 companies headed by women on the Global 500; 5 of them are US-based. But, as we learned from the recent Catalyst report, which made headlines for its findings that firms with women in management positions reported better financial performance than companies with male-dominated board rooms, the average percentage of board directorships held by women is just 15% in the U.S. and 9.7% worldwide.

As we’ve previously reported, Norway passed legislation in 2003 requiring companies to increase the percentage of women on their boards from 6% to 44% by a 2008 deadline; Sweden soon followed Norway’s lead. The Norwegian government believes such legislation is an important step towards equality between the sexes, a fairer society and a more even distribution of power.

This Scandinavian effort seems to be sparking a similar movement in other countries around the world. For example, in Spain, a country not generally known as the most progressive in women’s rights, the Zapatero administration has also mandated a “Law of Equality” which will help boost the amount of women in top management positions; in 2007, women represented only 3% of those in management. The country intends to reach 40% representation within the next eight years. There have been reports that other countries like France, Israel, Australia and New Zealand are also currently considering gender parity legislation.

And, earlier this month, there was some glass ceiling news that was quite heartening – Samira Al Kuwaiz earned the honor of becoming Saudi Arabia’s first female CFO when she rose to the C-suite in Osool Capital, an independent investment firm in Saudi Arabia. This is made even more astounding by the fact that women comprise only 6 percent of the workforce in Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi Labor Ministry as reported by ABC news.

Again, we have no answers to the ever-shifting shape of the glass ceiling. We suggest that the labor for this Labor Day and after is to work for gender equality legislation throughout the international business community. This would compel governments—perhaps—to examine their own failings in this area, or at least recognize that they exist and begin to address them in a meaningful way.