With the holidays upon us, it is beginning to look a lot like ……Groundhog Day. From a numbers perspective, this Year End Review has very little progress to report on a macro level. The number of women on boards is pretty stagnant – 17.7% in 2014, up from 16.6% in 2013 to be exact in the Fortune 1000. The FTSE board seats for women are up slightly to 23%. Outside of the big firms, the Gender Diversity Index is helping track progress in smaller firms and to understand the gains from specific industries which is helpful but doesn’t provide a real wow factor this year there either.
The Glass Hammer will be taking a short publishing break to celebrate Thanksgiving here in the U.S. First and foremost, we are incredibly thankful for our loyal readers and our sponsors who continue to enable us to do this work. We are also thankful for everyone out there who is working hard to break the glass ceiling. Keep going!
If you are lucky enough to have some down time this week, why not catch up on a couple of our most popular and recent posts that you may have missed?
- Want to get ahead in tech? Get a male sponsor, go to industry events, and check your bias at the door
- Why Wall St. Wants You Back: Returning From a Career Break
- Getting Back to Work After a Break: 10 Things You Need to Know to Return to the Workplace
- What Drives Male Diversity Champions
Additionally, The Glass Hammer is always looking for ways to showcase the women who inspire and empower us – if you’d like to nominate someone to be profiled on the site as Voice of Experience, Mover and Shaker, or Rising Star, please get in touch with jilliane@theglasshammer.com.
What are you thankful for this year? Let us know in the comments section below. We’ll be back next week with more articles designed to inform, inspire, and empower you!
In September 2014, Ana Botin succeeded her father Emilio Botin at Santander and has been named the top female banker in Europe by Bloomberg.
This appointment makes Ana the first woman to chair a global bank. She has worked hard to win this position and has positive endorsements from Citi’s ex chief Sanford “Sandy” Weill.
By Jessica Titlebaum
The Futures Industry Association (FIA) held their 30th annual Expo in Chicago last week featuring over 4000 delegates representing 30 countries and showcasing the latest in technology and services with 130 exhibitors.
While attendees and speakers were optimistic about the state of the markets, serious issues impacting the derivatives industry were discussed. Topics included the status of Dodd Frank implementation, concerns about insufficient funding at the regulatory level and the continuous need to manage market risk.
By Jessica Titlebaum
Photograph courtesy of Caroline Ma
Women in Listed Derivatives (WILD), a not for profit organization launched in 2009 and dedicated to helping women advance in the listed and OTC derivatives space, held the 3rd annual WILD Symposium at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in October. While the derivatives industry has experienced change due to Dodd-Frank regulation; the Symposium set out to evaluate the new landscape and help women identify and prepare for emerging opportunities.
By Melissa Anderson
Last week, Deutsche Bank held its 20th annual Women on Wall Street Conference in New York City, placing an emphasis on the benefits of collaboration. In his opening talk, Deutsche Bank’s co-CEO Jürgen Fitschen suggested that by cultivating more female leaders, the financial industry could work to prevent the next financial crisis.
“I have not the slightest doubt that if we let people do this… we will not commit the same stupid mistakes,” he said. He called on men to become more engaged in efforts toward gender equality, although, he continued, it will take some outreach by women in the industry.
By Beth Senko
Where are the Latina Leaders in financial services, in technology and in the Fortune 500 at large in the United States?
At first glance, it is easy to think they are almost entirely absent from the top echelons of business since only 35 women sit in the most senior executive management positions in the whole of the Fortune 1000. The 2012 Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women list includes only Gisele Ruiz, COO of Wal-Mart US.
By Beth Senko
A number of articles recently touted the news that for the first time, the highest paid CFO in the country was a woman.
In its fourth annual survey of CFO total compensation, The Wall Street Journal/S&P Capital IQ study placed, not one, but two women in the top 10. The study measures who got paid the most including salary, bonuses, stock awards, option awards and other compensation. Oracle’s Safra Catz topped the list of highest paid CFOs of both men and women in 2013 with total compensation of $43.6 million. Former Accenture CFO Pamela Craig placed 8th with total compensation of $12.8 million. Craig retired in August 2013.Two other women made it to the top 20. Kinder Morgan’s Kimberly Allen Dang earned $10.4 million in 2013 while Morgan Stanley’s Ruth Porat took home $10.1 million.
Welcome the The Glass Hammer’s “Spotlight on Asia” week! We will be highlighting successful women working in Asia all week long!
By Beth Senko
For all of its years as a global economic power, cultural issues and possibly a protracted economic downturn have limited gender diversity in the Japanese workplace. Japan consistently falls near the bottom of the rankings for gender diversity in the workplace. Women hold 2% of board positions (GMI) and 9% of senior management roles (Grant Thorton) according to recent studies.
Hiromi Ishizuka, Professor at the School of Management, Sanno University, recently wrote an article for the World Economic Forum’s blog entitled, “Are Women Really ‘Shining’ in Japan?”, outlining women’s position in the Japanese workforce and the outlook for gender diversity in Japan. Professor Ishizuka attributes some of the lack of gender diversity to “long-standing Japanese cultural norms, including an historic traditional split in gender roles and a slow pace of career advancement overall.”
Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, believes that getting more women into the workplace will help Japan’s long sluggish economy. The government is supporting the “20-30” campaign, which aims to raise the percentage of women in management positions from the current 10% to 30% by 2020. However, when Japan’s gender gap is looked at more broadly, as in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap measurement, Japan ranks 105th of 136 countries overall. It is an even lower 118th in terms of “political empowerment” – which demonstrates a low percentage of women in decision-making government roles. All in, a sluggish economy, slow pace of career advancement and a low level of women in political decision-making roles suggest that Japan may continue to lag other developed economies in gender diversity for some time.
South Korea Tries to Learn from Japan’s Diversity Shortfalls
South Korea shares a number of characteristics with Japan, perhaps in part to the Japanese occupation from 1905-1945. The two countries also share political, economic and religious/social similarities. Like Japan, South Korea ranks poorly in terms of gender diversity in the workforce with just 2.4% of board members being women according to Korn Ferry’s study, The Diversity Scorecard 2013: Measuring Board Composition in Asia Pacific.
But South Korea holds a few cards enabling it to increase gender diversity at a faster rate than Japan. Unlike Japan, South Korea has women in top governmental positions. South Korea elected its first female president, Park Geun-hye, in 2013 and its first woman Prime Minister, Han Myeong-sook, served from 2006-2007.
Women have embraced government work in South Korea for nearly 20 years. A 2010 article from The New York Times comments, “Last year, 47% of those who passed the state examination that selects midlevel officials to be groomed for senior posts in agencies other than the Foreign Ministry were women. In 1992 it was 3.2% percent.” The number of women applying for government jobs is so high that South Korea’s government revised its new hire quotas to ensure that at least 30% of the jobs (excluding police and military) go to men.
South Korea has also had a more robust economy than Japan in recent decades, spurring the need for additional workers and opening the doors to women. In addition, South Korean business has embraced gender diversity. According to a 2013 study by Heidrick and Struggles, “In Asia Pacific, certain Korean companies have been clear leaders in their pursuit for gender diversity programs. One very early Korean pioneer was Samsung, whose decision in 1992 to remove gender discrimination in their recruitment policies was considered incredibly radical at the time. Over 50,000 women now work at Korea’s largest business group, with three women being promoted to executive positions in 2012 during a management reshuffle.”
However, South Korea still lags Japan in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap measure, coming in at 111th of 136 (in 2013) based primarily a low score for economic participation (118th of 136 compared with 104th for Japan). But in terms of political empowerment, South Korea comes in 86th of 136 vs. 118th for Japan. It seems reasonable to expect that with both business and government on board for improving gender diversity, South Korea will continue to improve its standings more quickly than Japan in the next few years.
Welcome the The Glass Hammer’s “Spotlight on Asia” week! We will be highlighting successful women working in Asia all week long!
By Beth Senko
In last year’s Spotlight on Asia, we wrote about the sizeable gender gap in the Asian workforce and some of the hurdles that women face in narrowing that gap. Today as part of our 2014 coverage of Asia, we look at some updated statistics and take a deeper look at China and Singapore and then in part 2 tomorrow we examine Japan and South Korea – to see how women are positioned in each and efforts to improve the gender balance in the workplace.
The Opportunity is Great but the Journey may be Long
McKinsey’s June 2013 report, Women Matter: An Asia Perspective, noted, “women hold very few of the top jobs in Asia. On average, they hold 6% of the seats on corporate boards and 8% of those on executive committees. Moreover, although elements of a gender diversity program are in place in some Asian companies, the issue is not yet high on the strategic agenda of most.”
Women have better representation in the senior ranks both globally and in Asia, but that level is unchanged in the past six years according to Grant Thorton’s 2014 International Business Report, Women in Business: from Classroom to Boardroom. The study shows that the proportion of women in senior management roles globally was 24% in 2013. What is unclear is whether this is a plateau before the next significant uptick – or whether women’s climb up the corporate ladder is stalled for the long-term.
In Asia, women hold a higher percentage of senior management jobs (~35%) than the global average. This number however, varies widely by country and is heavily influenced by the large proportion of senior roles held by women in China. Japan ranks the lowest in the Grant Thorton Study with 9% of women in senior management roles; China ranks best in Asia with 38%.
China Performs Strongly in Gender Diversity Rankings
The high rate of women’s participation in the labor force and at senior levels likely stems from China’s socialist history as well as the high number of State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) in business. In many countries, women tend to hold a greater percentage of senior positions in companies/agencies that typically fall under government or quasi-government rule such as education. Given the still close ties between business and the state in China, it’s no surprise that China ranks well in gender diversity rankings. As noted above, Grant Thorton’s 2014 International Business Report, Women in Business: from Classroom to Boardroom counts women as having 38% of senior management roles in China, placing it near the top of all nations in the survey.
The numbers, however, may not tell the whole story – or at least the story of women who are not in the top ranks. A 2013 article in the South China Morning Post opens with the statement, “Women professionals on the mainland face more sex discrimination now than they did 20 years ago.” The article tells stories from unnamed women who claim that they did not get certain positions because of their sex and/or that they were required to sign documents agreeing to not get married or pregnant for a certain period of time.
Under the communist regime, workers were generally assigned to jobs and there were laws against gender inequality. Moreover, with a one-child only policy, more women were likely available to work outside the home. While market reforms have arguably resulted in greater employment and prosperity for the Chinese population in general, an article in the New York Times suggests that the Chinese government has used more subversive types of propaganda aimed at stigmatizing early-career professional women (the leftovers) in the workplace, creating a more challenging work environment for women. It is quite possible too, that China’s economic slowdown in recent years has increased pressure on women in the workplace.
So while there is cause for hope in the early viewings of the statistics, a critical analysis illustrates there is still great progress to be made and roadblocks to overcome for the working woman in China.
Singapore Pushes for Action
Singapore ranks slightly behind China in terms of gender diversity in the workforce; however, like many countries across the globe, women are better represented in the public sector than in the private sector. Singaporean women do well in statutory/public sector roles, accounting for nearly 20% of board directorships and 36% of senior management positions. However, in business, gender diversity lags.
Women make up only 6% of independent board directors for companies listed on the Singapore exchange. If non-independent directors are included, the number rises slightly to 8.3%. On a more positive note, women hold just over 21% of senior management positions. These numbers are particularly disappointing because of the seemingly high level of women who could fill those roles. In 2013, 58% of women were in the workforce – accounting for 45% of Singapore’s total residential workforce. Singapore’s young women are also well educated, with 76% having college (tertiary) degrees.
In 2012, Madam Halimah Yacob, Speaker of Parliament, launched Singapore’s Diversity Task Force (DTF) to address underrepresentation of women on boards and in senior business roles. The DTF’s efforts are supported by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and overseen by members of both private and public agencies.
In July 2013, the DTF reported the results of its first report, “Gender Diversity on Boards: A Business Imperative.” The report included recommendations for increasing diversity in the workplace, but stopped short of recommending quotas noting, “the causes for the low percentage of women on boards are complex and intertwined. Instead, the DTF recommends measures to address the underlying root causes and prefer to allow these measures to run their course before assessing if quotas should be imposed in future.”
The DTF appears to be making some early strides. In its most recent data, the percentage of board directorships held by women increased from 7.3% before the DTF to 8.3%. However, the DTF report comments that the pace of diversification remains too slow, “At the current rate of growth, the proportion of women-held directorships will only reach a mere 17% in 2030. Concerted action needs to be taken.”
Economic Growth and Political Empowerment will drive Gender Diversity in Asia
While gender diversity remains an issue in Asia as well as in many parts of the world, we believe that strong economic growth, a need for more workers and a continued shift to a consumer-based (as opposed to manufacturing-based) economy will bode well for a rise in women in the workplace over the next ten years.