Issue No. CCXVIII; April 23, 2014
THIS ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS:
I. HARVARD REPORT: GENDER WAGE GAP A RESULT OF INFLEXIBLE WORKPLACES
II. MALE & FEMALE CEOs EARNING THE HIGHEST SALARIES
III. OPENING UP CREDIT FOR ENTREPRENEURS: IFC/WORLD BANK & GOLDMAN SACHS US$600 MILLION FUND
IV. HONDA APPOINTS FIRST WOMAN BOARD DIRECTOR
I. HARVARD REPORT: GENDER WAGE GAP A RESULT OF INFLEXIBLE WORKPLACES
Claudia Golding, the first woman to earn tenure at Harvard University’s Economics Department, found in her latest research that workplaces still reward employees for working more hours or during certain times of days (early morning meetings or late night client entertainment) – practices that hamper working mothers’ career advancement. Flexible schedules mean less hours, and less hours mean lower pay that depress women’s earnings in the course of their careers. Golden states: “…It is often the case that hours alone get rewarded. Persistence in these positions and continuous time on the job probably matters far more to one’s success than a desire and ability to compete.” (Source: Washington Post, 3/26/14)
Golding’s research is the latest of many that underscore work/life integration as fundamental to ensuring career mobility and better pay for women. At this year’s Global Summit of Women (June 5-7 in Paris), a plenary discussion looks closely at whose responsibility it is for women workers to combine their work and family responsibilities – government, employers, families themselves? Why does this issue need to be addressed by every country in the world? How is this issue tied to an economy’s productivity? What is the role of men in this work/life balance? Participating in this dialogue are the CEO of Carnival Australia Ann Sherry, the President of Microsoft France Alain Crozier, Metlife’s Executive Vice President for Employee Benefits Maria Morris and Unibail-Rodamco’s Management Board Member Armelle Carminati. For more on the GSW 2014 program and presenters, go to www.globewomen.org/globalsummit.
II. MALE & FEMALE CEOs EARNING THE HIGHEST SALARIES
A ranking of the top 100 earners among U.S. CEOs by Equilar showed how few women made it to the list and how much lower their salaries are compared to male top earners. Oracle’s CEO, Lawrence Ellison, ranked first with $78.4 million in his combined pay package (cash, stock and options) in 2013 – more than twice the pay of the second ranked CEO, Robert Iger of Walt Disney at $34.3 million.
Among the top 50 earners, only four women CEOs made it to this Equilar listing. Ranked 30th is Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard, who had the highest salary among her female counterparts with $17.6 million. Lockheed Martin’s CEO Marilyn Hewson ($15.7 million), Mondelez International’s CEO Irene Rosenfeld, and IBM’s Virginia Rometty (both earning $14 million each in 2013) complete the listing at the lower end. (New York Times, 4/13/14)
These salaries bring to mind early revelation of General Motors’ first ever female CEO – Mary Barra — whose pay package was revealed by media initially to be only half of her predecessor’s salary. The media uproar about this seeming CEO pay gap resulted in a later GM announcement that her ‘real’ pay package actually came to $14 million as opposed to the earlier reported $7 million. A Bloomberg study showed that the highest paid U.S. female executive among the S&P500 companies earned 18% less than the highest paid male executive. In other words, the gender pay gap scales up as well as down career ladders. (Source: CBS MoneyWatch, 2/5/14) For a complete listing of women CEOs of US Fortune 500 companies, go to www.globewomen.com and scroll down the page.
III. OPENING UP CREDIT FOR ENTREPRENEURS: IFC/WORLD BANK & GOLDMAN SACHS US$600 MILLION FUND
One of the welcome news items emerging from International Women’s Day celebrations last month is the announcement from the International Finance Corporation – the private sector arm of the World Bank – and Goldman Sachs that they are partnering to fund the first-ever global finance facility dedicated to women-owned small and medium enterprises. The partner institutions aim to raise up to US$600 million in capital and will work with local banks to stimulate lending to women-owned enterprises.
This fund will open with IFC investment of US$100 million while the Goldman Sachs Foundation will come in with US$32 million initially. In addition, the foundation will give $18 million capacity-building support to banks to address issues that financial institutions face in deploying capital in developing economies, as well as those faced by women in accessing capital through banks. “There is a credit gap,” according to Goldman Sachs Foundation President Dina Powell. “Local banks at times don’t have (trained) loan officers. But women are also not applying for the capital because they worry about not having the collateral or the rates are prohibitive.” (Source: Philanthropy News Digest, 4/6/14).
Access to capital is an ongoing issue for women-owned business, but the Internet has provided a gateway that skips traditional banks. At the 2014 Global Summit of Women on June 5-7th, crowdfunding – an Internet-based avenue for raising capital through small contributions – will be explored. Once aimed primarily at raising funding for artistic projects, crowdfunding has now spilled over to enterprises of all sizes – from start-ups in developed and developing economies to more mature businesses. (For more information on the 2014 GSW, go to www.globewomen.org, click to the Summit.)
IV. HONDA APPOINTS FIRST WOMAN BOARD DIRECTOR
Japanese automaker Honda has recently appointed a woman to its Board of Directors for the first time in a sign that women may be beginning to inch into the boardrooms of Japan’s leading companies. A technology expert, Hideko Kunii, who is in charge of promoting gender equality at the University of Tokyo, will join Honda’s Board following their shareholders meeting in June
Putting women in leadership positions is a pillar of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policies to revive the economy and Honda is the first major company to act. The other two major Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan still have all-male boards. According to the Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), the research arm of the Global Summit of Women, Japan’s 25 largest companies represented in Fortune Global 200, averaged just 3.1% women board directors in 2013. That low percentage, however, marked an increase from 2011 when Japan’s companies in the Fortune Global 200 had a percentage of only 1.8%.
CWDI will release its 6th update of the Women Board Directors of the Fortune Global 200 at the 2014 Global Summit of Women in Paris on June 6 and will hold a Roundtable on Board Diversity that looks at best practices in accelerating women’s access to board seats globally. To see more of CWDI’s research, visit www.globewomen.org/cwdi/cwdi.htm
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