Glass Ceilings & Barriers

The double minority: Being a black female politician in a male-dominated political world

Teaser:

Minorities and women have a hard time breaking into politics, but what is it like to be both – a black woman fighting to be and stay in the political world.

Editorial:

From Medill Reports:

Imagine what it is like to be serving your country and less than a quarter of your constituents look like you. That is the reality for African-American women in politics.

Illinois Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Chicago) was the youngest African-American woman to be appointed to the Illinois Senate and she said sexism was evident, but being intimidated by others has disappeared.

“There has always been some general disrespect and resistance to treating me as an equal. I overcame most of this, but it has been a process of working hard to gain respect.” Ligthford said. “In focusing on my mission to improve education, I have felt some negative feedback, but I don’t see it as negative anymore. I see it as my job and I have grown in that way.”

Women only make up 17 percent of all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 16 percent of U.S. senators, 16 percent of all governors and 24 percent of state legislators according to a 2008 Pew Research study.

Even with this reality, in 2012 nearly three quarters of African-American women say right now is a good time to be a black woman in America, according to a 2012 nationwide study from the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation.

[...]

Source:

Medill Reports

URL:

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=201994

Date:

April 2, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Panacea or Placebo: Are Women’s Networks Working for Women?

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 10:05am

URL:

http://www.simmons.edu/som/docs/insights_34_FINAL.pdf

Member Organization:

Center for Gender in Organizations

AGENDA Annual Conference 2012 external rev March 30

Submitted by vivhdem on Fri, 03/30/2012 - 5:13pm

AGENDA: NCRW Annual Conference 2012 - Agenda-Setting Nationally and Globally: Leveraging Women's Voices

Attachment:

AGENDA for 2012 NCRW Conference (external) 3-27-12.pdf

Golf’s Masters Facing Male-Only Dilemma With New IBM CEO

Teaser:

Will International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)’s Ginni Rometty be able to wear a green jacket at the Masters Tournament?

Editorial:

From Bloomberg:

As Augusta National Golf Club prepares to host the competition next week, it faces a quandary: The club hasn’t admitted a woman as a member since its founding eight decades ago, yet it has historically invited the chief executive officer of IBM, one of three Masters sponsors. Since the company named Rometty to the post this year, Augusta will have to break tradition either way.

IBM holds a rarefied position at the Augusta, Georgia, course. The company has a hospitality cabin near the 10th hole, beside co-sponsors Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and AT&T Inc. (T) The companies’ male CEOs have been able to don the club’s signature green member blazers while hosting clients. Non-members, who don’t wear the jackets, must be accompanied by a member to visit the course or play a round.

“They have a dilemma on many levels,” said Marcia Chambers, senior research scholar in law and journalist in residence at Yale University Law School. “If there’s been a tradition of certain CEOs, then they should look at this new CEO in the same way. The only thing that makes her any different is her gender.”

[...]

Source:

Bloomberg

URL:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/golf-s-masters-facing-male-only-dilemma-with-new-ibm-ceo.html

Date:

March 28, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

theFIT Report on Workplace Culture

Submitted by asklar on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 10:25am

Women work longer days and report working more often on vacation than their male counterparts. Yet, women also report greater perceived satisfaction with their compensation, according to new data released today in theFIT’s first Report on Workplace Culture. Fifty- four percent of women report working nine or more hours a day, compared to 41 percent of men. The report includes survey data from over 5,000 U.S. employees.

URL:

http://www.thefit.com/images/theFITReportonWorkplaceCulture.pdf

In Mexico and Around the Globe Women are Moving into Senior Leadership Positions

Teaser:

On a sunny afternoon in late March, before an audience of 1,200 students at the Tec de Monterrey’s satellite campus just outside of Mexico City, Josefina Vazquez Mota, the first female presidential candidate in the country’s history, talked about her campaign. “Michelle Bachelet [the former president of Chile] gave me some great advice, she said ‘never put on a mustache to govern, govern as a woman.’”

Editorial:

From Forbes:

Josefina Vazquez Mota is already the first woman ever to serve as Mexico’s Secretary of Education and Secretary of Social Development.

A few weeks earlier, when she accepted the nomination from the country’s PAN party, she told the crowd “I will be the first woman president of Mexico in history.”

In a recent article, Shannon O’Neil, a Mexico expert from the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in New York, explained “This is a historic nomination, it has the potential to change the dynamics of the presidential race.”

[...]

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanielparishflannery/2012/03/26/in-mexico-and-around-the-globe-women-are-moving-into-senior-leadership-positions/

Date:

March 27, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Alternative Perspectives: a seat on the Board

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 10:36am

Since Lord Davies’ independent review of women on boards a year ago (February 2011), the impetus to seek out female talent for the boardroom has never been greater. FTSE 100 companies appointed 26 women to their boards in the first eight months of 2011, a jump by 227% from the whole of 2010. Of these 26 appointments, 31% were women with financial services backgrounds, i.e. the most in-demand demographic.

This paper considers why women from the world of alternative investments could be appropriate for publicly quoted corporate boards. Working with senior members of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, we have conducted a study into the potential among women in alternatives for board. Of the 100 participants, 85% felt they were ready for a corporate board role within five years or less and 58% within two years or less.

URL:

http://www.odgersberndtson.co.uk/gb/news-knowledge/knowledge-insight/article/alternative-perspectives-a-seat-on-the-board-4875/

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

38° 54' 29.0844" N, 77° 2' 26.214" W

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Deborah L. Frett joined the Business and Professional Women's Foundation (BPW) as CEO in May 2005 after more than 30 years of providing strategic direction and executive management to associations as well as for-profit and start-up organizations. She is a leading advocate for working women, women veterans, green job development for women, Gen Y women in the workplace and redefining the workplace to meet the needs of the 21st century. She is a frequent speaker and panelist and has provided congressional testimony and served as an expert for briefings on issues impacting working women, families, and veterans.

Location

Washington, DC 20036

United States

38° 54' 29.0844" N, 77° 2' 26.214" W

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Judith Robinson Rogers, President, Cottey College

Judy Robinson Rogers, Ph.D., became the eleventh president of Cottey College in 2004. Previously, she served as vice president for leadership and ethics at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, and as associate vice president for academic affairs, undergraduate dean, and professor of English at Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky. In addition to general education English, Dr. Rogers taught undergraduate and graduate courses in modern and American literature. She received her undergraduate degree in English and speech/theatre from Centre College of Kentucky and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which she attended as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

37° 50' 21.138" N, 94° 21' 16.8192" W

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Location

Nevada, MO 64772

United States

37° 50' 21.138" N, 94° 21' 16.8192" W

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

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