Issue No. CCV; March 7, 2013
THIS ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS:
I. FRANCE TOPS U.S. IN APPOINTING WOMEN TO BOARDS
II. WOMEN AT THE HELM OF THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMIES
III. FLEXIBILITY IN THE WORKPLACE: PLUS OR MINUS FOR CREATIVITY?
IV. CWDI MARKET OPEN – ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
I. FRANCE TOPS THE U.S. IN APPOINTING WOMEN TO BOARDS
For the first time, the United States lost its leading role as the country with the highest percentage of women board directors in the Fortune Global 200 companies, according to a new report from Corporate Women Directors International released at the World Bank in Washington, DC, on February 27. With a quarter of its directors now women France tops the U.S. 25.1% to 20.9%. “France has raised the bar for other countries when it comes to opening doors for women in corporate leadership, states Irene Natividad, CWDI Chair.
France’s rise from 7.2% women’s representation on corporate boards in 2004 to the current 25.1% in 2013 is due largely to quota legislation passed in 2011. The use of legislative mandates to accelerate women’s access to board seats has mushroomed to 18 countries, primarily European, with quotas ranging from 30-40%. Outside of Europe, Malaysia is the only Asian country with a quota of 30%, while the United Arab Emirates’ Cabinet also approved a requirement for women to be on the boards of state-owned companies. Brazil, the world’s sixth largest economy, also has a quota being proposed for women directors.
Not everyone likes government mandates, so an equally effective strategy to increase the numbers of women directors has emerged from the private sector – the inclusion of gender or board diversity into corporate governance codes. To date, 17 countries have done so either to avert a quota or to codify what quota legislation already had in place. Does this strategy work? In the 2013 CWDI report on “Women Directors in the Fortune Global 200 and Beyond”, companies based In countries with board diversity language in corporate governance codes had a higher percentage of female directors than peer companies – 19.4% to 15%.
“Quotas work; board diversity language in governance codes work; what doesn’t work is to think that women will rise naturally to leadership roles, and therefore do nothing,” adds Natividad.
At the 2013 Global Summit of Women, there will be a plenary debate on “Quotas, Targets vs. Voluntary Initiatives” to be moderated by Bloomberg News Executive Editor Susan Goldberg. To see additional findings and order the 2013 CWDI Report, go to http://www.globewomen.org/CWDI/2013_cwdi_report.html
II. WOMEN AT THE HELM OF THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMIES
U.S. women were afforded another first when the U.S. Air Force Academy announced recently the appointment of Major General Michelle Johnson as the institution’s first female superintendent. Her voyage from 1981 graduate of the same academy to a three-star general came with many barrier-breaking achievements. Ms. Johnson was the academy’s first female wing commander, who went on to become the academy’s first female Rhodes Scholar.
The married mother of two was most recently NATO’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Intelligence. Her years as a pilot and advisor on cybersecurity, as well as her years teaching future generations of cadets made her an ideal choice for the academy.
She joins Rear Admiral Sandra L. Stosz, who was tapped last year as the head of the Coast Guard Academy, the first woman to lead one of the military’s service academies. These appointments come at a time when women soldiers have been allowed to assume combat duties for the first time. The counterparts in the defense industry to these academy chiefs are also now female CEOs. Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and BAE Systems now have women at the helm. With two wars winding down and defense cuts looming, challenges lie ahead for the women leading these service academies and the defense industry. (Source: New York Times, 3/3/13)
III. FLEXIBILITY IN THE WORKPLACE: PLUS OR MINUS FOR CREATIVITY?
Yahoo’s first woman CEO, Marissa Mayer, made news recently when it was announced that the company’s employees who work outside the company must now bring their laptops back from their home offices to corporate headquarters. The reason? Innovation and creativity stem from interaction among employees, the company states, and for this period in their history, that is what is needed.
Currently, 60% of US companies have flexible work schedules in place for employees who need this arrangement. There have also been studies that indicate greater productivity from employees who work from home. The majority of IBM’s employees, for example, work outside corporate offices worldwide, and technology companies in Silicon Valley are known for using flexible work schedules widely.
There is concern that Yahoo’s move will be replicated by other companies. Yahoo, however, strongly indicated that this move was peculiar to their company which has been on a downward spiral for some time. As part of their turnaround, bringing workers back into the office is in order, in their view. Some see the irony in a CEO, who was hired while pregnant and then spent some months working from home. now cancelling this option for others.
At the 2013 Global Summit of Women, flexibility in the workplace will be discussed, with best practices from companies and governments to be featured.
IV. CWDI MARKET OPEN: ZURICH, MARCH 12
Corporate Women Directors International marks Women’s History Month on March 12 by opening the Zurich Stock Exchange with 100 women business leaders in Switzerland. This week’s event marks CWDI’s 10th Market Open around the world. “We organize the Market Opens to open up a business tradition for women as well as to salute the contributions women have made to the economies where the Open takes place,” states CWDI Chair Irene Natividad.”
CWDI Chair ringing the bell in Hong Kong in November 2012.
Prior Market Opens have been held at the Hong Kong, Sao Paolo, Warsaw, Barcelona, Istanbul, Madrid, Johannesburg, Toronto Stock Exchanges and NASDAQ in New York. In all these instances, it was the first time that women as a group rang the opening bell.
The Zurich Market Open will be followed by a Forum on Board Diversity to be held at the Stock Exchange itself. Joining CWDI Chair Irene Natividad in the Forum will be the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Donald S. Beyer, Jr., the CEO of Egon Zehnder International, Damien O’Brien; German Stock Exchange Board Director Monica Maechler-Erne; and Diamondscull AG CEO Carole Ackermann, who also serves as a Board Director of Allianz Suisse.
BE A PART OF THE FOREMOST INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM FOR WOMEN LEADERS IN BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY
JOIN THE 2013 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
JUNE 6-8, 2013
Malaysian delegates at the 2012 Global Summit of Women in Athens, Greece.
CONTACT US
Global Summit of Women
1100 G St. NW, Ste. 700
Washington, DC 20005 USA
tel: 202-835-3713 / fax: 202-466-6195
email: summit@globewomen.com
