No. CCXXII; August 28, 2018
THIS ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS:

I. FIRST WOMAN MAYOR OF TUNIS JOINS GROWING CADRE OF WOMEN RUNNING MAJOR CITIES

II. GENDER PAY GAP EVEN AMONG CEOS

III. QUOTAS FOR WOMEN BOARD DIRECTORS IMMINENT IN CALIFORNIA AND SWITZERLAND

IV. HOW COMPANIES SHOULD REACT FOLLOWING SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIM

1. FIRST WOMAN MAYOR OF TUNIS JOINS GROWING CADRE OF WOMEN RUNNING MAJOR CITIES  

The capital of Tunisia has the first-ever woman Mayor since 1858 — Souad Abderrahim, an entrepreneur elected Mayor of Tunis.  Not a member of the city’s elite, Abderrahim comes from a middle-class background, is one of the highest ranking female elected official in the Arab world, and she is also the first Islamist to hold this office.

She joins a rapidly growing group of women running major cities, who have also been recently elected.  Claudia Scheinbaum, an environmental scientist, was elected on July 1 as Mayor of Mexico City, another first woman to run Mexico’s capital city of 21 million inhabitants.   Femke Halseda, who was elected Mayor of Amsterdam in June, again the first woman Mayor of this Dutch city.  Halseda’s victory followed a concerted effort by prominent women leaders in the city to have a woman elected Mayor, calling it “embarrassing” that a city which considers itself diverse, tolerant and gender-neutral had never had a woman Mayor.

First-ever women mayors in Tunis (Souad Abderrahim), Mexico City (Claudia Scheinbaum), and Amsterdam (Femke Halseda)

According to the C40 Cities Network, woman now lead over 20 of the world’s largest cities, representing nearly 150 million citizens.   A number of these women Mayors have been featured in recent Global Summits of Women, including Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (2014);  Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore (2018);  Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (2016);  and the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike (2017).

Basel, Switzerland, the Host City of the 2019 Global Summit of Women (July 4-6th), is also led by a woman, Mayor Elisabeth Ackermann, whose actual title is President of the Canton of Basel-Stadt.  She will be featured in a Mayor’s Forum led by Summit President Irene Natividad.  “All politics is local, experts tell us, so these incredibly talented women are touching people’s lives in the most direct way with pubic services needed by every city in the world,” Natividad adds.

(To see photos and videos of the 2018 Global Summit of Women, visit www.globewomen.org/globalsummit.)

2. GENDER PAY GAP EVEN AMONG CEOS

Whether at the top or the bottom of the corporate pyramid, women suffer a pay gap.  In the U.K., women CEOs earn less than half as much as their male counterparts, according to research from the Chartered Management Institute.  Total pay including bonuses, pensions and perks averaged £5.8 million for male CEOs in 2017 compared with only £2.6 million for women CEOs, a pay gap of 55% at the top of British businesses.

A comparison of the highest-paid U.K. male CEO of Persimmon, Jeff Fairburn, earning £47 million with the highest-paid female CEO, Emma Walmsley of GlaxoSmithKline, at £4.9 million, underscores this disparity .  The study showed that unequal salaries began at the base pay of the CEOs at 11%, which jumped to 35% for bonuses, and 75% for long-term share incentives

Persimmon CEO Jeff Fairburn and GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley

The U.K. is not alone in paying women CEOs less than men.  In the US, women CEO earnings were 79.5% of males with the CEO title, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.  Not relying on companies to institute equitable pay, the governments of Iceland, France and Germany have passed laws recently requiring companies to report salary levels of male and female staff as a result of studies indicating that transparencies in compensation for specific positions will reduce pay gaps. 

A similar bill is currently pending in Switzerland, which would require companies with more than 100 employees to publicly release the salary data for male and female employees.  The bill includes regular audits by public service agencies to test pay equality.   Given the overriding importance of this issue for women worldwide, the 2019 Global Summit of Women in Basel, Switzerland will feature public and private sector initiatives for eliminating the gender pay gap in several countries.

3.  QUOTAS FOR WOMEN BOARD DIRECTORS IMMINENT IN CALIFORNIA AND SWITZERLAND 

 While the legislative quota strategy for women’s increased access to board seats has been adopted by 24 countries, there has always been a perception that the U.S. would not undertake this initiative given corporate phobia of government regulations.   However, the state of California – always in the forefront of progressive policies – is proposing to adopt quotas for women directors.  Legislation requiring companies headquartered in California to have at least one woman on their Board of Directors by 2019 is currently on the floor in the State Assembly.  Currently, 26.1% of California company boards have no women directors and 37.5% only have one female director.  Passage of the bill would make California the first state in the United States to have a quota for women on corporate boards.

The proposed quota would require at least two women on boards which have five total members or at least three women on boards with six or more total members by 2021.  Companies failing to meet those obligations would be fined “an amount equal to the average annual cash compensation for the directors of the corporation” for a first offense, with escalating penalties for subsequent infractions.  (San Francisco Chronicle, “California could become first state to require women in boardrooms,” August 26, 2018)

A country also on the verge of passing a legislative quota for women on boards is Switzerland.  A bill asking companies to ensure that 30% of their Board of Directors and 20% of their Executive Board be female passed the Upper Chamber of Parliament by one vote in June and is awaiting passage by the Lower Chamber.  Failure to reach the targets, however, does not come with strict sanctions.  If a company does not reach the quota, it must explain why it has not complied, but does not suffer any penalties.

To see a listing of all countries with quotas for women on boards, whether on publicly-listed or state-owned companies, complied by the Corporate Women Directors International, CLICK HERE

4. HOW COMPANIES SHOULD REACH FOLLOWING SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIM

As the wave of sexual harassment reports continues to unfold, recent allegations against CBS CEO Les Moonves and other well-known figures in media, entertainment, business and politics continue to show the ongoing power of the #MeToo movement.  Companies are being forced to re-evaluate their sexual harassment policies and introduce additional trainings in part to prevent harassment and subsequent public backlash.   A recent study in the Harvard Business Journal showed that a single sexual harassment claim can dramatically reduce public perceptions of an entire organization.

What should companies do?  Click here for a short video by Summit President Irene Natividad:

To see more from the Summit, please visit www.globewomen.org/globalsummit.

SAVE THE DATE!

2019 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN
BASEL, SWITZERLAND
JULY 4-6, 2O19

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