Barriers & Opportunities

For businesses that want to compete in the global marketplace, the development of a culturally and internationally competent work force is fundamental to success. Business professionals increasingly seek out international experience as a key to professional development and advancement. The stakes are high, therefore, to ensure that global assignments are both readily available and successful. Yet women lag behind men in taking on international transfers, and the hurdles they face – “trailing” spouses, competing family and community responsibilities, inadequate training, challenging timetables and disadvantages on repatriation – are generally more numerous for women than for men. Through NCRW’s network, professionals and HR leaders are provided with the information they need to develop a business case for change as well as best practices for developing a more diversified talent pool.

Paid Sick Days in Massachusetts Would Lower Health Care Costs by Reducing Unnecessary Emergency Department Visits

Submitted by asklar on Fri, 05/25/2012 - 10:33am

Thirty-six percent of working Massachusetts residents, or approximately 910,000 employees, lack access to paid sick days. This fact sheet reports findings from research by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) on how increased access to paid sick days would improve both access to health care and health outcomes in Massachusetts. The research also quantifies the savings gained by providing access to paid sick days to all workers, thereby preventing some emergency department visits in Massachusetts.

by Kevin Miller, Ph.D., Claudia Williams (May 2012)

URL:

http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/paid-sick-days-in-massachusetts-would-lower-health-care-costs-by-reducing-unnecessary-emergency-department-visits

Member Organization:

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Single Women Voters Focus of Democrats’ Equal-Pay Appeal

Teaser:

Bloomberg explains how the current legislative push for paycheck fairness is designed to appeal to single women voters.

Editorial:

From Bloomberg Business Week:

Unmarried women were among Barack Obama’s most loyal supporters in 2008, turning out in droves and delivering 70 percent of their votes to him. When many of them stayed home in the 2010 midterm election, Democrats lost the House and had their Senate majority trimmed.

Now, determined to get single women back, Senate leaders are reshaping their legislative agenda, advancing a bill to bolster workers’ ability to win pay discrimination lawsuits. A similar measure was blocked by Republicans two years ago, and proponents expect it to be rejected again, setting up a contrast between the parties over an issue that especially touches unmarried women.

It will be the third time this year that Senate Democrats will push for votes on policies affecting women, with the other measures focused on insurance coverage for contraceptives and programs for domestic violence victims.

They are aiming to fire up the 55 million single, divorced, separated or widowed U.S. women eligible to vote this year. While 60 percent of all unmarried women cast ballots in 2008, just 38 percent turned out in 2010, said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. Democratic strategists see these voters as critical to helping return Obama to the White House and to retain Senate seats in Ohio, Virginia and other states.

“What is really at issue is their turnout rate,” Lake said in an interview. “Unmarried younger women plummeted in the turnout in 2010, and they came into this election cycle not very interested in the election.”

[...]

Source:

Bloomberg Business Week

URL:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-25/single-women-voters-focus-of-democrats-equal-pay-appeal

Date:

May 25, 2012

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Can Suing for Equal Pay Really Close the Gender Wage Gap?

Teaser:

Bryce Covert wonders if lawsuits for equal pay really will push the cultural shift needed to make equal pay a reality.

Editorial:

From The Nation:

Senator Barbara Milkulski is holding a press conference later today to press the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act she recently introduced. But didn’t President Obama already kill the gender wage gap? Not quite. While Obama has long been touting the first bill he signed once in office, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, it only provides a woman more time to file a claim of discrimination. The Paycheck Fairness Act would go further by ensuring employees can discuss their salaries with each other—since it’s hard to root out pay discrimination if you don’t know how you stack up against everyone else.

Lilly Ledbetter certainly helps women who want to bring lawsuits against their employers by giving them more time to do so. In that way, Obama’s first act did recognize the problem of pay discrimination. But it’s a baby step forward in the march toward equal pay.

The numbers since its signing bear that out. According to Bloomberg, the number of pay discrimination complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission actually fell from 2,268 when Obama signed the Act in 2009 to 2,191 last year. Meanwhile, the pay gap has widened from 77.8 in 2007 to 77.4 percent in 2010.

So what will it take to make the wage gap disappear? Why wouldn’t clearing the way for lawsuits get us there? Part of the answer is that Ledbetter only nibbled at the edges of an enormous, systemic problem. As I’vepreviously written, the causes of the gap range from a too-low minimum wage to decreased unionization levels. These kinds of issues won’t budge on a large scale even if women are emboldened to sue for equal pay.

[...]

Source:

The Nation

URL:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/168030/can-lawsuits-really-close-gender-wage-gap

Date:

May 24, 2012

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Kleiner Perkins Lawsuit Gives Inside View of Clubby Venture Capital World

Teaser:

A gender discrimination suit filed by a female employee of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers has exposed a system to view that allegedly boosted male positions and compensation while excluding the company's female employees, reports ABC News.

Editorial:

From ABC News:

Ellen Pao, 42, an investment partner with the firm, filed a lawsuit on May 10 alleging the firm engaged in gender discrimination against her and other female employees. She said she faced retaliation when she complained of multiple instances of sexual harassment, which included being pressured by a junior partner to have a sexual relationship and being given a book that had "sexual drawings" and poems with "strong sexual content."

Kleiner Perkins, the esteemed venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, Calif., is seven miles away from the headquarters of Facebook, one of the many tech firms in which it has invested in its 40-year history. Google, Zynga and Groupon are among other beneficiaries of Kleiner Perkins' investments, which can range from $100,000 to $50 million.

In this elite world, women represented fewer than 10 percent of high-level venture capitalists, and left the industry at twice the rate as that of men, according to an estimate from the Kauffman Foundation in 2004.

Teresa Nelson, a professor at Simmons School of Management in Boston and faculty affiliate at the Center for Gender in Organizations, said she has no knowledge that the situation has changed.

[...]

Source:

ABC News

URL:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/venture-capital-female-employee-sues-kleiner-perkins-gender/story?id=16414611#.T75HrtxfGeA

Date:

May 24, 2012

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G(irls) 20 Summit: Catching Up With Women Farmers

Teaser:

Dr. Rekha Mehra of the International Center for Research on Women recounts her visit to a village in Tanzania and growing international support for women farmers.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

Like their sisters all over the developing world, women farmers work hard to grow food for themselves and their families, and for sale. They plant and tend, fertilize and weed, harvest and process -- in short, do all it takes to produce a crop. But they don't get much in return. Their yields are low and, even if some crops are sold, the women may not see any income since men who take the crop to market may not feel obliged to share it.

When international development projects come around to try to change these conditions, they don't always reach out to women farmers. They assume that the women are not the "real" farmers because they don't own land or go to market, or because they have other household responsibilities such as fetching water and caring for children.

However, studies done in many developing countries show that women undertake a variety of farm work along with their household chores. Despite this reality, women are left out of projects that offer new technologies, improved fertilizers or training in practices that could help them produce more. Other studies show that when women have the same access as men to such farming resources, women could produce more, earn more and live better lives.

Fortunately, there is growing support for women farmers like those I met in Tanzania. It comes from the highest levels in global agreements like the G8 L'Aquila Food Security Initiative -- which committed $20 billion over three years for sustainable agriculture development -- and policies such as the United States Agency for International Development's Feed the Future initiative.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-rekha-mehra/girls-20-summit-women-farmers_b_1525514.html?ref=impact

Date:

May 21, 2012

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Should Women Use Humour in the Boardroom?

Teaser:

Lynne Parker reflects on an article by Daniel Boffey in the Observer newspaper entitled 'Why women's jokes fall flat in the boardroom' which reviews the findings of a study by Dr Judith Baxter, a linguistics expert, about women's behaviour in the boardroom. The study raises questions about how women use humour in the workplace, specifically the boardroom, the ultimate 'boys club' where even some of the women wear trousers.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

If a woman employs the direct, masculine approach to any sort of confrontation in business, in or out of the boardroom, she is more often or not described as 'aggressive' or 'bossy'. Men are more comfortable with a woman flirting her way out of a situation than confronting them.

I've just been quoted in an article by Daniel Boffey in theObserver newspaper yesterday entitled 'Why women's jokes fall flat in the boardroom' which reviews the findings of a study by Dr Judith Baxter, a linguistics expert, about women's behaviour in the boardroom. The study raises questions about how women use humour in the workplace, specifically the boardroom, the ultimate 'boys club' where even some of the women wear trousers.

Having spent the last 10 years listening to and watching nearly 2,000 female comedy acts, and 35 years working in business and the media, I can confirm that women's humour is not always as self-deprecating at Dr Baxter's study would have us believe. I don't profess to be an 'expert' and can only take as I find, but women's humour is evolving.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lynne-parker/should-women-use-humour-i_b_1530748.html

Date:

May 21, 2012

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Private equity women come out against quotas

Teaser:

Speakers at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s inaugural Women in Private Equity Forum have come out largely against hiring quotas as a solution to the lack of women working in the industry.

Editorial:

From Financial News:

Panellists including Zeina Bain, a director in leveraged buyouts at the Carlyle Group, and guest speaker Laura Tenison, founder of Jojo Maman Bebe, spoke out against the use of quotas following a European Commission proposal to impose mandatory quotas and a report by Lord Davies in which he called for more female board representation at FTSE 100 companies.

Bain said: “I am against quotas. It is hard enough to be taken seriously as a woman. You put yourself out there when you are working on a deal. If there are quotas in place, [people might say] does she know what she is talking about? Why is she here?”

Tenison said in a speech about her experience as an entrepreneur that she disagreed with quotas, noting that she believed that the hiring process should be dependent solely on achievements and merit. “It just so happens that all the directors [on Jojo Maman Bebe’s board], apart from one, are women, and that is because they are right for the job."

In a straw poll of about 80 attendees, only a handful agreed with the use of quotas.

[...]

Source:

Financial News

URL:

http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2012-05-18/private-equity-women-representation-bvca?mod=sectionheadlines-IB-PE

Date:

May 20, 2012

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Is Board Diversity Important for Firm Performance and Board Independence?: An exploratory study of Singapore Listed Company

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 8:37am

Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the spate of corporate frauds and accounting scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, Satyam and China Aviation Oil (Singapore), there has been considerable research about the effectiveness of the board of directors in the corporate governance of firms. There are strong conceptual and business propositions for greater board diversity. In the corporate world, there has been anecdotal evidence from some large corporations such as IBM, Ford Motor, Nortel, Lucent, Sara Lee, Texaco, and DuPont that diversity at every level of the work force tothe board of directors of firms have been cited as an imperative for business success.

URL:

http://www.mas.gov.sg/resource/publications/staff_papers/Staff%20Paper%20No.52.pdf

Women Senior Management Appointments: CEW & Dun & Bradstreet Data: May 2012

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 8:29am

A survey of Australian CEOs from Dun and Bradstreet and Chief Executive Women (CEW).

The data was collated from Dun and Bradstreet’s monthly Business Expectation Survey of 1,200 chief executive officers over a three-month period Q3-Q4 2011.The data reflects CEO’s answers to two key questions about women senior management
appointments.

The survey showed that:

• over 75 per cent of small firms did not intend to appoint a female to a senior management position in the next three months. Over 65 per cent of small to medium size firms were not mandating that female candidates be short listed for senior management roles.

• 22% of corporates said that in the last three months or next three months they have appointed or intend to appoint at least one female to a senior management position. This proportion is approximately the same across all industry groups.

URL:

https://www.cew.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Media-Dun-Bradstreet-Survey-Data-Sept-Nov-2011-DunnBradstreetWomen-Senior-Management-Appointments.pdf

With JPMorgan Chase's Ina Drew Out, Few Top Wall Street Women Left Standing

Teaser:

Forbes reports that after a stunning $2 billion trading loss, JPMorgan Chase‘s chief investment officer, Ina Drew, 55, will step down. The 30-year banking veteran oversaw the London unit responsible for the ill-fated trades and was one of three resignations announced so far, including a top London official, Achilles Macris, and a senior trader, Javier Martin-Artaj.

Editorial:

From Forbes:

The exit of one of Wall Street’s most powerful women spotlights the dwindling numbers of women at the top. Last year, Sallie Krawcheck left her post as Bank of America‘s president of global wealth management, and Heidi Miller retired as head of JPMorgan’s international operations. This followed the headline-making departures of Lehman Brothers CFO Erin Callan in 2008 and Morgan Stanley president Zoe Cruz in 2007.

“Here we go again. Another woman at the top of Wall Street is toppled,” says Jane Newton, founder of the Wall Street Women Forum and wealth manager and partner at RegentAtlantic Capital. “[Drew] was one of the most experienced, savvy and respected Wall Streeters. This is a blow to other women who want to climb to the top. There’s one less role model and one less female leader to bring diversity, which is sorely needed.”

[...]

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/05/14/with-jpmorgan-chases-ina-drew-out-few-top-wall-street-women-left-standing/

Date:

May 20, 2012

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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