Bidiversity

According to The Boston Club’s 2009 census of Massachusetts public companies, the percentage of women executives is at its lowest point since 2003.

“The census is really about how the companies are doing putting women in board and executive officer positions. We are now discussing what we can do to conduct more research; we need to understand what’s happening underneath these numbers. We can all talk in a fairly informed way, but need data that says OK, we have surveyed and talked to women and now have enough data to say here are some of the real reasons why those numbers are so bad,” said JoAnn Cavallaro, president of DeCava Consulting.

Cavallaro said she and her fellow corporate board committee members at The Boston Club are aware of the ad hoc reasons behind the lack of female representation in the executive ranks and on boards — cultural mores and the tenacious association between leadership and masculinity, as well as women’s own obligations and priorities, all of which are evident in the workplace — but conversations must begin between those who are concerned about this lack and those who have the power to change things.

“I’m trying to start conversations with diversity and HR executives about how we [can] ensure that women, particularly women at the mid levels, are getting the kinds of developmental assignments they typically don’t get offered. I have background in the broadband telecom industry,” said Cavallaro. “I was an executive for many years in the industry and had the good fortune to have many rotational and developmental assignments in operations-run organizations. You don’t often see women in those roles, and when it comes time to see whether women are ready to promote to senior positions and, ultimately, the senior officer positions, those kinds of assignments — international assignments — count.”

Cavallaro said what’s happening, or rather not happening, inside companies is scary: Role models are scarce; cultures aren’t supportive and neither are CEOs; and there are few if any diversity objectives set to retain and develop women to take on executive and board positions.

Survey findings state the stagnation in the number of women directors is not attributable to a lack of opportunity, however. Cavallaro said board openings do exist, and there are qualified women candidates available to fill them; it’s just tough to sell organizations on the need to make definitive moves to do so.

“The key for us with the board work is to make the pitch to these companies who have not yet moved the needle at all,” she explained. “It’s very difficult. I compare getting in and talking to companies that have no women on their boards and/or no women in their executive officer positions to a major purchase for a corporation — there’s a long decision cycle. We get in, we make the pitch, and we have to go back multiple times. But the opportunities are there because there are independent directors being added each year to these companies.

“I had an executive recruiter say to me, ‘Oh, we had no idea there were so many qualified women available.’ That’s a stunning comment because it’s 2009 and there are plenty of highly qualified women. I don’t even think you have to dig looking for them anymore.”

Cavallaro said the key to getting underneath the survey numbers likely will be engaging diversity and inclusion executives and the companies they represent in more effective, substantive conversations about how to increase female representation in the executive and board ranks strategically and programmatically.

“Is it time for some really new thinking, or are we going to look at a fundamental shift on how we retain and develop women so that the pipeline is full and we’re seeing more women in those executive roles? As we’re grappling with this issue of numbers and executive women, we’re also seeing shifts in the workforce, shifts in the attitude toward work, the multigenerational impact on work and how work is done — and I wonder from a diversity perspective how all that needs to play together. How do we need to advance the interests of women at a time when there are fundamental shifts going on even with respect to the demands on women who are mothers?

“They have to rely on spouses’ parental contributions [and] have to take care of personal and family priorities, and they have their own personal and professional obligations. Some may have other family members who need attention and care. There’s a lot pressing on these women. How do they impact their employers to say, ‘Hey, we’re talented; you need to retain us’? The demographics are such that there aren’t going to be enough younger people to replace baby boomers as they transition. These women may find themselves in a more powerful position where they can change the notion of work. That may create momentum and demand about what retention and development mean for this next group of women.”

Source: Diversity Executive