Science and Engineering: An Equal Playing Field for Women?

Elegant leaderBy Jewells Chambers (New York City)

Historically, the work of women scientists and engineers in academia has been downplayed and undervalued by their male counterparts. Consequentially, such treatment has resulted in talented women leaking out of the science and engineering pipeline to pursue other endeavors. As women transition out of these fields along the pipeline, few are left to hold top ranking positions.

The lack of female role models and the presence of gender bias have made it difficult to convince young women to dedicate their professional careers to fields where they will be marginalized and undercompensated. With half of the United States’ population severely underrepresented within the science and engineering academic profession, it all too clear that these fields are not maximizing on their innovation and economic growth potential.

Read more

/by

Study Shows Slow Growth for Diversity Efforts in Law

iStock_000010170880XSmallThis article originally appeared on our sister site EvolvedEmployer.com.

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A recent report by the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession has revealed that while plenty of law firms and corporations are talking up the business case for diversity, real progress in terms of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession is moving very slowly.

But, Sandra Yamate, Executive Director of the IILP, said that the fact that so many firms and companies were eager to participate in the study, shows some steps toward progress. “The legal profession remains one of the least diverse in the country. And what was really fascinating about this study is that for the first time, we’re getting some hard numbers. For the last few years, the evidence has been so anecdotal.”

While the study showed progress isn’t moving fast enough, it also pointed out several areas where diversity and inclusion efforts can be improved, as well as potential solutions.

Read more

/by

Firms Must Employ Transparency to Eliminate Hidden Bias against Female Leaders

,

iStock_000003583699XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A new study by McKinsey has shattered the notion that women aren’t rising to the top in significant numbers because they don’t want to be leaders.

In fact, the report showed, women in middle management very much want to reach senior executive levels – even moreso than women in entry level corporate jobs. The study, “Unlocking the full potential of Women in the US Economy” showed that while 79% of women in entry level roles agreed or strongly agreed that they “desire[d] to move to the next level,” 83% of women in the middle management said the same.

While the report does discuss the fact that some women make lifestyle choices that keep them from attaining the highest ranks in their companies, it points out that this number of women is not sufficient to account for the significant lack of women in senior executive roles.

What the study does reveal, however, is that unconscious bias is hard at work – that managers (both male and female) have hidden beliefs about what a leader should look like. Thoughts about who should occupy a leadership position are keeping women down and pushing women out.

On the other hand, numbers don’t lie. Employing an earnest and transparent metrics-based method of culture change can reveal bias where it was hidden before. As Saadia Zahidi, Director, Head of Constituents, World Economic Forum, said at the Wall Street Journal’s recent Women in the Economy Conference, “You can look at it as naming and shaming, but it works.”

Read more

/by

Honoring Outstanding Women and Storytellers

twhpboardBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week The White House Project celebrated outstanding women and storytellers at its annual Epic Awards dinner. The awards honored individuals who are making a difference in the way women and girls view themselves, and the way they are viewed by decision makers.

Activist, philanthropist, and event-chair Mahsa Peloski opened the evening saying, “When women are at the peace making table, the corporate boardroom, and the halls of Congress, they bring a different perspective and change the conversation.”

By honoring the individuals who are changing the conversation about women, The White House Project hopes to increase the numbers of women in positions of power as well.

Read more

/by

Why Senior Allies Must Support LGBT Inclusiveness on Wall Street

Business colleagues clapping her hand while at a seminarBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Karen Sumberg, and Lauren Leader-Chivee explained “What ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Really Costs.” According to Hewlett, et al., “Closeted employees are less likely to deliver the energy, enthusiasm and innovative spirit companies require to be competitive in today’s market. Only 21% of closeted LGBTs trust their employer, compared to 47% who are out.”

The Glass Hammer and our sister site Evolved Employer advocate for work around building inclusive cultures that enable and motivate women to perform at the top of their game. This means actively recruiting and advancing women, as well as working to move beyond the unseen bias that keeps diverse people out of the corner office. But building an inclusive culture is not only about women – it also means supporting individuals from other minority groups as well.

It’s not hard to understand that building a culture that is welcoming and supportive of women means building a culture that is welcoming and supportive of everyone. As Hewlett revealed in her article, just as we’ve seen “the business-case for women,” there is also the business-case for LGBT. Getting beyond siloed approaches to diversity will benefit everyone – shareholders included. Perhaps we should call it the business-case for inclusion.

Read more

/by

Quantitative Measures Reveal the Business Case for Women in Technology

Brunett woman with laptopBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Named after one of the pioneers women in computing, the Anita Borg Institute provides research and tools to advance women in the field of technology, and works to make women in the field more visible.

But despite the organization’s hard work, many feel the needle isn’t moving fast enough. In response to the slow pace of change, this year the organization launched its first Top Company for Technical Women award (along with its Women of Vision awards). The award isn’t just about honoring the companies that have achieved high levels of success in retaining and advancing women. It’s also about motivating companies to measure their progress, and to work harder to get (and keep) more women in their ranks.

Dr. Caroline Simard, Anita Borg’s Vice President of Research and Executive Programs, explained, “This is our first corporate award and what motivated us to initiate it is that you don’t achieve organizational change without measurement.” She continued, “A lot of companies talk about getting more diversity in technical roles, but they don’t know where they should start.”

“Before they decide where they want to get, they have to know where they’re at,” Dr. Simard explained.

Read more

/by

On International Women’s Day, Hard Questions: How Do You Define Career Success?

On International Women's DayToday marks International Women’s Day – and this year’s theme is “Pathway to Decent Work for Women.” After all, being seen as an equally capable economic performer is key to being seen as an equally valuable person.

It’s only appropriate that on Friday, in honor of IWD, Accenture released the results of a global study on attitudes toward work, surveying 3,400 business executives from medium to large organizations across 29 countries. The survey reveals some telling statistics about how people across the globe feel about women, work, success, and ambition.

What may be most surprising about the report is how similar the responses were between men and women. Apparently, securing satisfying, fairly compensated work is important to everyone!

But there were some notable differences between genders – mainly around the areas of career planning and development. Women are seeking their own brand of professional success and taking their own path to get there. The study revealed that fewer women than men (14% compared to 22%) are hoping to attain C-suite roles. Indeed, the freedom to define your own success is wonderful and freeing, but this begs a very difficult question: are women choosing a different definition of success because obstacles, glass ceilings or sticky floors perhaps, are obstructing the path to the corner office?

Read more

/by

NALP Findings No Cause for Concern – Yet

iStock_000004699538XSmallBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

Late last year, The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) reported that the representation of women and minority lawyers among law firm associates declined between 2009 and 2010, most likely the result of the massive lawyer layoffs that took place during the recession. The findings made headlines across the country, though the actual drop in the representation of women and minorities was quite small and occurred mostly among associates, not partners.

Despite these facts, some newspapers reported that these findings were significant because they were the first diversity reversals in the NALP’s 17-year history and represent the reversal of what had been, up until 2010, a constant upward trend.

So, are these findings important or not? According to the NALP, aggregate statistics about the representation of women and minority lawyers at law firms do not tell the whole story. For example, among the employers listed in the 2010-2011 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, just over 6 percent of partners were minorities and 1.95 percent of partners were minority women, and yet many offices reported no minority partners at all. In addition, the representation of minorities by specific race and ethnicity varies considerably by size of law firm and geography. The NALP also found that the drop in minority representation among associates was not uniform across specific racial/ethnic groups, which also influenced their findings.

Others believe that while the NALP’s findings are interesting, women in law have bigger fish to fry.

Read more

/by

Women in Management on the Rise in the Finance Industry

business woman with colleaguesBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

In November of last year, Women at the Top (WATT), a community of women at or aspiring to the C-suite, conducted a survey which found that of 523 executive positions within the top 50 commercial banks, 17.4 percent were filled by women. This is nearly a five percent increase from 2004, when women held 12.6 percent of management positions at the 50 largest U.S. commercial banks.

As is usually the case for women in the financial services, the bad must be taken with the good. The survey also found that more senior-level women are in the pipeline, but very few actually hold c-level positions at top commercial banks. WATT’s survey did not reveal the names of the financial institutions surveyed, but the study revealed that of the 50 largest commercial banks, there are no female chief executives and only three female chief operating officers, two female chief information officers, four female chief financial officers, and one female chief administrative officer.

WATT’s findings were delivered on the heels of another telling report released late last year by FINS, which revealed that women are disappearing from the finance industry, with 2.6 percent of female finance workers leaving or getting laid off over the past 10 years. Given these findings and the financial crisis, Regina Barr, founder of WATT, was surprised by the increase of women in top positions. Barr also reports that “more women are taking jobs with profit-and-loss responsibility and fewer are in traditional ‘female’ roles like customer service, HR, and marketing.”

Read more

/by

The Gender Advantage for Multinational Firms

iStock_000015361168XSmallBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

New research shows that companies can benefit by exploiting gender discrepancies in host countries – in other words, hiring highly skilled, local women who are not ‘employees of choice’ in their own countries. Can companies really gain a competitive advantage by hiring women who are overlooked? And should they?

When Qualified Women are Overlooked…

The research was produced by Professor Jordan Siegel from Harvard Business School, Lynn Pyun of MIT, and B.Y. Cheon of Hanshin University and the Korea Labor Institute. The multinational team looked extensively at hiring practices in South Korea. They found that women were frequently discriminated against in the labor market, particularly for management positions. However, the female candidates were as qualified as the male candidates. There is a rich pool of talent there, but local firms are reluctant to tap into it.

So, there are lots of qualified, talented women waiting for jobs, and fierce competition with male candidates. That equals an opportunity for multinational firms, who can exploit “social schisms” in the employment economy through hiring and promoting women. Better candidates mean better – and loyal – employees, and in turn this equals a competitive advantage and better profit margins.

Read more

/by