By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)
In 1979, it was reported that women were making just 62 percent of what their male counterparts were making, despite having the same titles and doing the same amount of work. Though progress has been made over the last 30 years, there is still a disparity when it comes to women being fairly compensated for their work. Forbes Magazine recently compiled a list of the top-earning states for women, based on study released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in July 2009. According to the report, women are capable of earning respectable salaries in locations such as Washington D.C. where women make an average of $866 a week. But is it really progress if they’re still not earning as much as their male colleagues?
The Facts: High Salaries but the Gap Persists
According to data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2008, women generally make just 80 cents for every one dollar earned by their male colleagues. In Washington D.C., however, this percentage jumps to about 92 cents because of the multitude of high-paying government jobs with a regulated pay system, which makes the wage gap much tighter than in the rest of the country.
While the Forbes list highlights the states that pay women well, in none of these states do women earn as much as men. For example, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts came in second, third, and fourth on Forbes list, meaning the Northeast is the ideal location for women to secure large salaries. Working female professionals in these three states reportedly make between $762 and $774 each week, though men in the same professions in those same areas make more than these high-earning women—20 percent more, on average. Except for Connecticut and Maryland, that is, where women are making just 73 cents and 76 cents, respectively, for every one dollar made by their male counterparts.
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Equalité for All – France Considers Boardroom Quotas
NewsWhen I worked for a global financial services firm in Paris, I constantly found myself explaining to my French colleagues that both my degrees were in literature but in the UK I was still employable. French business is the bastion of people (read: men from wealthy backgrounds) who have gone to the right Grandes Ecoles and studied the right business course. I was odd – I didn’t have a business qualification, but the business district of La Défense had still welcomed me. It was a small sign that the French approach to work is changing – and in December it got a big push in the right direction with the launch of new legislation that would see women take half the seats in boardrooms in five years.
Currently, women only make up 10.5% of boards in the CAC 40 – the French stock market index – and only 8% of board members in the top 500 companies are women.
It’s a long way from the European average, and campaigners for the new law have cited Scandinavia as a role model for how quotas should be managed. Norway started the northern European revolution, by insisting that boards were made up of at least 40% women back in 2003. Comply or close were the options given to business leaders, and while it was a controversial law and a difficult time, board membership is now 44.2% female. Sweden (with 22% female board members) and Finland (17%) have also made huge inroads in moving towards a better gender balance at the top of organisations.
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Ask-A-Career Coach: What Are The Market Prospects For 2010?
Ask A Career CoachI often get market-related questions: what are employment prospects; what are the hot industries; who is hiring. Keep in mind that employment statistics are not worth following for your career planning. Fears of 10% unemployment are misplaced. The statistic you care about is either 0% or 100%; it’s are you employed or not. The next question to ask is, “Are you in the job you want or not?” So regarding market prospects for 2010, the short answer is, “Why should you care?”
Focus on your individual career. Yes, all things being equal, I would pursue growing over shrinking industries. But all things aren’t equal. It is more important to know your values, skills and interests and align them with the correct industry, function and company, rather than picking employers and force-fitting yourself into them. Read more
Back after the Bump: Difficulties of Returning to Work after Pregnancy
Work-LifeAfter a year off, you would imagine that employers would be falling over themselves to welcome new mothers back to the workplace. Apparently not. One in three women report that going back to work after having a baby is difficult, according to a new study by the NCT, UK’s leading charity for parents.
There are vast amounts of legislation aimed at supporting the transition of new mothers to the office, and many companies have their own HR policies that often provide enhancements that go beyond the legal requirements. The research by the NCT, the UK’s leading charity for parents, shows that for many companies, this is all lip service, and many of the 400,000 women taking maternity leave in the UK each year don’t feel welcomed back to work when the time comes.
“Although the Government has introduced incentives to encourage mothers back to work, there is a lack of guidance or support for both women and their employers,” says Liz Morris, who completed the research as part of her Master’s degree at Aston Business School.
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Sovereign Wealth Funds Growing in Popularity
NewsThe global economy has taken a battering recently – but not everywhere has been equally affected. Ernst & Young’s ITEM Club, one of the UK’s best-known independent economic forecasting groups, is predicting that the emerging markets will grow about 1% this year. Admittedly, growth up until recently had been around 6%, but at least those economies are not contracting. This has put the spotlight on to sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), which have helped keep the economies buoyant.
SWFs are like other investment funds, but they are owned and managed by the state. Depending on where the funds are based they might get some special tax perks for being a state-owned venture. For some countries, this state-run fund is managed by the central bank and is hugely important to the economy; for others it is just a slush fund without much of a role to play in balancing the books.
As you might expect, it is countries with state-owned commodities that tend to have this type of investment vehicle. Seventy-eight per cent of SWFs are in the Middle East and Asia and the largest SWFs are in the UAE. Even so, SWFs are not as big or as mature as corporate and institutional investments – but they haven’t fallen so hard as hedge funds or private equity either.
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Voice of Experience: Julie Monaco, North America Regional Head of Global Transaction Services, Citi
Voices of ExperienceIn April 2007, about to embark on a business trip, Julie Monaco, then managing director at JP Morgan Chase, was contacted about a position in financial giant Citi’s Global Transaction Services division. That’s when fate intervened and a routine trip turned into anything but.
While waiting in an airport security line for her connecting flight through Tokyo, Monaco struck up a conversation with a fellow business traveler. It just so happened to be the CEO of Citi’s Global Transaction Services.
“I stuck out my hand and introduced myself,” said Monaco. He laughingly responded, “You are about to have the longest job interview you ever had.”
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On Your Bookshelf: The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide
ReviewsDon’t let the chick-lit cover fool you. The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide: Get What You Want in Work and Life (and Look Great While You’re at It) may look fluffy, but it is full of hard-nosed advice about how to strategize each step of your career. Author Debra Shigley is a Harvard-educated journalist and lawyer whose work has appeared in numerous publications and has been featured as a career/lifestyle expert on The View, CNN, and in The Wall Street Journal, along with other media outlets.
Although the book is primarily geared toward women just starting out, Shigley’s advice holds true for women at any stage in their career – especially women who want to be more polished, more professional, and move ahead. Go-Getter Girl (GGG) is code for Type A personality, and The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide (GGGG) is filled with stories of highly-educated, highly-motivated, and high-achieving women.
Amidst the peach text and call-out boxes, Shigley sets the tone early with a chapter titled, “The Work World Can Be a Cold Hard Place – You Must Learn to Deal with It.” It’s true. Women do encounter issues at work that men do not. The GGGG discusses what to do if you have the occasion to cry at work and why it’s so important to maintain a sunny disposition no matter what (“fake it until you make it”). Other advice is common sense, but bears repeating, like not venting at work, avoiding gossip, and treating your coworkers with respect.
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2010 Gender Equality is Here, and Other Media Myths that Keep Unconscious Bias Alive
Expert Answers, FeaturedWelcome to my new weekly column on the latest news, surveys and trends on professional women in the workplace (I’ll sometimes write and sometimes podcast). I aim to keep you updated and to provide deeper insight into positive changes both employers, and women who are breaking the glass ceiling everyday, can make to improve working life. Feel free to comment and continue this discussion on the social network which can be found on our community page.
The Economist kicked off the year with Rosie the Riveter on the cover, proclaiming “We did it.” What exactly did we do?
Well, we became 50% of the workforce, generally, across all industries. We can interpret that in two ways, either as a positive advancement for women as they are able to have economic freedom by earning their own wage or that that women have to work to support themselves and their families; it does not necessary mean that we are actually getting somewhere as leaders and managers in equal numbers to men.
I have to be honest. I had to check that I wasn’t reading an old copy of the Economist from January 1980 when I read the words, “The revolution has been achieved with only a modicum of friction. Men have, by and large welcomed women’s invasion of the workplace.” Invasion of the workplace? Last time I checked, going to work to try and strategically improve your processes, and therefore the company as a whole, by delivering results in whichever area you work isn’t like invading Poland.
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Where U.S. Women Earn the Most, Despite the Gap
Breaking the Glass CeilingIn 1979, it was reported that women were making just 62 percent of what their male counterparts were making, despite having the same titles and doing the same amount of work. Though progress has been made over the last 30 years, there is still a disparity when it comes to women being fairly compensated for their work. Forbes Magazine recently compiled a list of the top-earning states for women, based on study released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in July 2009. According to the report, women are capable of earning respectable salaries in locations such as Washington D.C. where women make an average of $866 a week. But is it really progress if they’re still not earning as much as their male colleagues?
The Facts: High Salaries but the Gap Persists
According to data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2008, women generally make just 80 cents for every one dollar earned by their male colleagues. In Washington D.C., however, this percentage jumps to about 92 cents because of the multitude of high-paying government jobs with a regulated pay system, which makes the wage gap much tighter than in the rest of the country.
While the Forbes list highlights the states that pay women well, in none of these states do women earn as much as men. For example, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts came in second, third, and fourth on Forbes list, meaning the Northeast is the ideal location for women to secure large salaries. Working female professionals in these three states reportedly make between $762 and $774 each week, though men in the same professions in those same areas make more than these high-earning women—20 percent more, on average. Except for Connecticut and Maryland, that is, where women are making just 73 cents and 76 cents, respectively, for every one dollar made by their male counterparts.
Read more
DirectWomen: Opening the Door to the Board Room for Women Lawyers
Industry Leaders, LeadershipDirectWomen, a three-year-old organization based in New York City, believes it has discovered an untapped resource capable of greatly benefiting the boards of U.S. companies: accomplished female attorneys. After all, for the first time in the country’s history more women are graduating from law school than men, and not only that, but 2008 findings from Catalyst found that companies with the highest representation of women board directors and women corporate officers actually experience more financial success than boards with little to no female representation. Obviously, DirectWomen and organizations like it are on to something.
According to the 2009 Catalyst Census, the percentage of women board directors has hovered at around 15 percent for the past five years. Getting women into these positions has proven to be difficult, but Dominique Schulte, Executive Director of DirectWomen, believes that female lawyers are more than capable of not only serving in these positions, but succeeding in them. “Despite all the awareness of the positive attributes of diversity, there has still not been a major breakthrough in the number of women directors,” Schulte said. “We feel that women lawyers are uniquely qualified and an experienced source of board diversity that has gone unnoticed.” Until now…
In early 2006 a group of women who met through their participation in Bar activities began to discuss their concern over the small number of women serving on boards, even though the first generation of women to attend law school in meaningful numbers was reaching the age where they might consider board service. In response to this problem, these women decided to form DirectWomen in order to promote women lawyers with business experience for board service.
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The UK’s Top 12 Women to Watch
Industry Leaders, LeadershipIt’s been ten years since Cranfield School of Management first produced a report benchmarking the number of female executive directors on the corporate boards of the UK’s top 100 companies. This time the authors of the Female FTSE report has gone a step further – perhaps to celebrate a decade of highlighting the paucity of women at the top – and put together a list of women to watch.
There are 2,281 women (which is 404 more than last year) on the corporate boards, executive committees and senior teams in the FTSE 250. The ‘Women to Watch’ report identifies 100 women in that group, chosen from the largest organisations, whom the authors believe should be seriously considered for the most senior positions.
The Glass Hammer has picked out the financial services high fliers – women you should be watching out for in 2010. Is anyone at your company on the list?
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