No. CCLIX; March 22, 2018
THIS ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS:
I. WOMEN CEOs AT THE 2018 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN
II. WOMEN ON BOARDS:ARE QUOTAS THE ANSWER?
III. STEREOTYPES IN RECOGNIZING WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
IV. UK LAW SHOWS DISPARITIES IN PAY OF MEN AND WOMEN
I. WOMEN CEOs AT THE 2018 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN
Over 1,000 women leaders from 60+ countries are planning to attend the 2018 Global Summit of Women next month in Sydney, Australia from April 26-28, 2018. Among the participants are women Heads of State and Vice Presidents, Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentarians, corporate executives from multinational companies and a diverse set of entrepreneurs from all parts of the globe. All 1,000+ participants are prepared to network with their peers from countries ranging from China to France, from Mongolia to Mexico, and Korea to Kazakhstan, while listening to and learning from presenters sharing strategies for increasing women’s economic empowerment globally.
Among the women leaders participating in this global gathering, four women CEOs are featured in a special Women CEO Forum focused on “Defining the Workplace of the Future.” Prepared to discuss their experiences and to share what they see as defining characteristics of future workplaces are four women who have been leading companies in different industries in different continents. They are:
From Venezuela Maggie Henriquez is CEO of Krug Champagne based in France; Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, CEO and Managing Director of Mirvac Group, an Australian real estate investment company; Ines Juste, CEO of Grupo Juste, a privately-owned pharmaceutical company in Spain; and Margaret Ren, who is Chairman of China Business for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
To see more of the women leaders participating in the 2018 Global Summit of Women in Sydney, Australia on April 26-28 and to register to join them, please visit www.globewomen.org/globalsummit.
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II. WOMEN ON BOARDS: ARE QUOTAS THE ANSWER?
At a Global Summit of Women side event to the UN Commission on the Status of Women meetings in New York last week, four women government leaders from countries with initiatives to increase the number of women on corporate boards shared their answer to the question: “Are Quotas the Answer?”
President of the Global Summit of Women Irene Natividad opened the event — hosted by Paul Hastings LLP for an audience of 90 corporate directors, executives, entrepreneurs, and government officials — by presenting a global overview of the status of women on boards. Ms. Natividad indicated that countries with the sharpest increases in percentage of women board directors have done so largely through legislative initiatives – quotas.
Norway’s Minister for Equality and Children Linda Hofstad Helleland shared the Norwegian experience of companies reaching the quota of 40% women board directors while still striving to increase the number of women CEOs. Bringing the perspective of a country increasing the number of women on government boards and commissions through a quota was Australia’s Minister for Revenue and Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer, who underscored the government’s insistence that all lists of possible appointees include women. She also shared the country’s ‘Male Champions of Change’ effort created by the prior Human Rights Commissioner in increasing numbers of women in the boardroom.
From Asia, the Deputy Secretary-General in Malaysia’s Ministry for Women, Family, and Community Development Dr. Waitchalla R.R.V. Suppiah shared her Prime Minister’s persuasive role in setting a target for companies to reach 30% women directors. Closing the panel was Italy’s Deputy Minister for Economic Development Teresa Bellanova who forcefully demonstrated the effect of the Italian legislative quota in not only increasing the number of women board directors, but also in improving board director recruitment in the country.
Continuing the conversation of the effect of women serving on corporate boards, a session at the 2018 Global Summit of Women in Sydney will focus on “Shifting the Dial on Boards, Management, and Markets.” To see more topics to be explored at the 2018 Summit program , click here .
III. STEREOTYPES IN RECOGNIZING WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
A recent study in the Academy of Management Journal confirms what many women have long suspected: getting noticed as a leader in the workplace is more difficult for women than for men. First, when asked to draw what a leader looks like, women and men inevitably draw a picture of man. Second, how might holding these assumptions about gender affect people’s abilities to recognize emerging leadership?
To address the question, the authors of the study conducted an experiment focused on a particular act associated with leadership – speaking up with ideas to move a team or company forward. When a male speaker presented change-oriented ideas, they were far more likely to be identified as leaders than female speakers. When female speakers shared their ideas, they were not recognized as leaders even though their statements were exactly the same as those presented by male speakers. The researchers concluded that since people do not envision women as leaders, they fail to recognize women as leaders even when they act like one. (“Draw a Leader. What’s She Like? Trick Question!” New York Times, March 17, 2018)
What is the reseachers’ prescription to overcome this problem? People need to be exposed to more women in leadership positions so that a different model emerges.
At the 2018 Global Summit of Women in Sydney, Australia on April 26-28, participants can see and hear from presenters from dozens of countries, showcasing the wide range of women’s leadership present in both business and government. To see a sampling of the women leadership you can meet at the Summit, visit www.globewomen.org/globalsummit.
IV. UK LAW SHOWS DISPARITIES IN PAY OF MEN AND WOMEN
UK companies with over 250 employees are now required to publish details of their gender pay gap – the difference between the average earnings of male and female workers – by mid-April, as the result of a law passed last year. Germany and Iceland have similar laws enacted recently, setting a possible new trend in addressing the stubborn pay gap globally. What these laws provide is transparency in salary scales that enable inequities to be seen easily.
At Goldman Sachs UK, the company reported that women working for the company earned 56% less on average than men. Even more startling is that bonuses paid to women were on average 72% lower than bonuses paid to men.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in a letter that men and women in similar roles at the company were paid equally and the gap is the result of too few women in senior roles. To help lower the gender pay gap and to increase the number of women at the senior level, the company signed the UK Women in Finance Charter, pledging that women will make up at least 30% of positions at the Vice President level and above by 2023. (“Goldman Sachs International reveals UK Gender Pay Gap,” Financial Times, March 16, 2018)
Some multinational companies are not waiting for a legislative mandate. Instead, they have conducted internal audits to assess pay scales and have ‘made whole’ the women whose salaries were not equitable to their male peers. Intel, Storebrand, Apple, Microsoft, Societe Generale are some of the companies which have conducted such audits.
Australian delegation at the Tokyo Summit in May 2017 announcing Australia as 2018 Host Country
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2018 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
APRIL 26-28, 2018
www.globewomen.org/globalsummit
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