Archive for April, 2008

When Senator Obama called on our nation to create a more perfect union, his appeal resonated deeply with Americans of every race. His words spoke to the legacies of the grief and guilt, anger and apprehension that we bear as a nation, remnants of a history which has never been remedied. We are all scarred by the racial wounds of injustice, and we will be perpetually hindered as individuals, as communities, and as a nation until we address the historic and current, the overt and discreet, the personal and the structural, manifestations of racism in our society.

Obama’s speech has paved the way for a much-needed conversation on race in America. Yet there is another essential element to creating a more perfect union: acknowledging and rectifying the persistent and pervasive injustices based on gender that women continue to experience in all areas of life. If we are, in Senator Obama’s words, “to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America” then we must march for women as well.

What would a speech on gender sound like? Would it speak to the continued wage gap, the perpetual attacks on women’s sexual autonomy, the lack of affordable child care and healthcare? Would it reference the continued political disenfranchisement and under-representation of women in the upper echelons of business and politics? Of the unity and divisions which exist among women themselves?

We need to open up the conversation on gender in America. And it is our thought, at The White House Project, that no one woman, or leader, or organization should be writing that speech. Instead, the women of our nation must join together to chart this course. Only then can we speak to the diversity of women’s experiences, our shared and divergent historical repression, and the realities of our lives today.

So we invite you to share with us, in the comments section below, what you would include in such a speech. We’ll start with our own contribution, but it’s up to you to flesh out the rest–because only when we all contribute our voices and visions to this monumental task of closing the gender gap, will we finally be able to create that “more perfect union” we’ve been striving for for so long.

Recently, the financial gurus at Motley Fool ran a provocative piece on financial prowess. Their prime assertion: Warren Buffet invests like a girl. Indeed, author LouAnn DiCosmo attributes Buffet’s monumental success to his gender-bending ability, doing what women investors have long been shown to do: trade less often, conduct more research, and not limit their investment decisions to numbers alone.

If Buffet’s feminine investment strategies have been key to his financial achievements, they mirror what happens when women take the lead in the corporate sector: Catalyst has found that companies with greater numbers of women directors outperformed their peers by 53 percent in return on equity, by 42 percent in return on sales, and by 66 percent in return on invested capital. Astounding what women bring to the table, isn’t it?

Leading like a girl isn’t only good for business; as the democratic race for the presidential nomination has shown, it’s good for practicing politicos as well–at least if you’re a man. The 2008 campaign has been an interesting experiment in gender roles, as Barack Obama’s leadership style, oft-touted as feminine, has been largely instrumental in shaping his popularity.

Yet while men seem to be incorporating the best of what women already know and do, women themselves are still feeling the pressure to deny traits associated with their gender to get ahead. From the New York Times to Salon, it has been widely noted that Obama has embraced his feminine side to great effect. Clinton, meanwhile, has often been forced to eschew the same in order to prove that she really is “man enough” for the job–a stylistic approach, some would argue, that has worked to her detriment.

The lesson? Boys can be boys–and now they can be girls, too. But attach those en vogue traits to the body of an actual woman and suddenly the dynamic changes. Clinton’s dilemma is particularly important to consider because, to some extent, it is the dilemma of all women in leadership. Men can now add the feminine virtues of inclusivity, sensitivity, and an eye towards thinking outside the box, and be lionized for it. Women, however, rarely are given such latitude. They must first prove they are lions–or risk being tossed aside, and into the den.

Of course, it is a real testament to the women’s movement that the embrace of feminine traits is now being espoused by enlightened men - and that they are being celebrated for it. But what about the women? Under what circumstances can women finally claim these attributes for themselves and not be punished for them?

I am on a crusade to have women risk revealing their authentic selves. As a group who bring important attributes to leadership, who can also be tough and in control, women’s leadership, having been honed at the foot on the table, has lessons and positive possibilities for us all. We have made it safe for men to play like the girls. Now is the time to claim our own ability to do the same.

Last week marked the 22nd anniversary of the glass ceiling’s entrance into our vernacular — a phrase which cleverly described the invisible but extensive impediments to women’s ascent into positions of senior leadership. Over two decades have passed since we gave the problem a name, and while women’s collective gains in politics, business, media, and culture have created a spider’s web of cracks, shattering the ceiling once and for all remains an elusive goal.

In her recent piece for the New York Times, Sharon Reier examined shifts in policy and culture that have brought women’s senior leadership to the fore across the corporate boards of European businesses. Norway, who instituted a law requiring companies to fill 40 percent of corporate board seats with women in 2003, has met their goal, and similar legislation has passed in Spain, with the goal to be met in 2015. And while these laws are being passed, Europe is simultaneously addressing the institutional barriers for women’s equal participation. There, as in the U.S., the long-held preference for former or sitting CEOs has been a restrictive force for women, as few have attained the senior executive positions that lead toward board candidacies. But change is on the horizon: In the Netherlands, a voluntary charter is now being presented to corporations to commit to propelling women into these senior leadership positions, and Norway has instituted a mentoring program and forum for aspiring women board members.

Clearly, Europe ahead of the learning curve on this front: in a 2007 study by Catalyst , which examined the financial results of 520 companies over a four-year period, it was found that companies with the highest numbers of women board directors outperformed those with the lowest. While European nations are bringing parity to their businesses, their gains are being measured in terms of both talent and the bottom line.

This raises some interesting questions for those of us on this side of the Atlantic. For example, as the Euro keeps rising and the dollar keeps falling, will our corporations finally begin to realize that a diverse board is a strong board? Or that the qualities that women leaders offer can catapult a corporation to a heightened level of performance and profit? In this month’s Portfolio, Harriet Rubin reminds us that, “in the early and mid-1990s, the number of female appointees to Fortune 500 boards steadily increased. But since then, progress has slowed,” stalling in 2007 at just 14.8 percent. Though many of the U.S.’s top companies have instituted programs to advance their female employees, women are still widely underrepresented in the boardroom. And if you pay any attention to the economy, it looks like our business sector could really benefit from a few good women.

At The White House Project, we work to propel a critical mass of diverse women into positions of leadership. And through our Corporate Council, we bring together senior executive women who are active agents of change within their organizations, to close the leadership gap in the business sector. The Council deepens the impact of these women leaders and builds their authority by raising their visibility, fostering expansive networks, and developing strategic initiatives to permanently alter the composition of the corporate sector.

This remarkably talented, intelligent, and ambitious group of women represent some of our nation’s top companies who are committed to propelling women into leadership. They know that’s good business from any angle. But how many more years will it take for the rest of corporate America to catch up?

In the fall of 2008, The White House Project and Corporate Council will be releasing a landmark report, entitled “Benchmarking Women’s Leadership: A Report Card on the Leadership Gap in America.” Assessing the current and future status of women in leadership across sectors, the study delivers fascinating research on women’s status, from sports and film to business and politics.

Unfortunately, what the report clearly conveys is women’s vast under-representation at the top ranks of every field surveyed. And that the long-term goal of shattering the glass ceiling once and for all looms far in the distance: by current rates of change, it could take decades, and in some cases, centuries, before women achieve parity with men in leadership.

There are great benefits to propelling women into leadership across sectors. When women make advances in politics, the corporate arena follows suit. Our governments become more representative, our policies more expansive, and our businesses more profitable. And when the public views more women as experts while watching their daily news, cultural perceptions of what a leader looks like shifts dramatically.

There is a common root to the lack of top women across sectors: a culture that does not fully embrace women as leaders. But a society which does not tap half of its natural resources is operating at half of its potential — and the repercussions are rearing their ugly heads in the dwindling states of our economy, our politics, and perhaps, our culture. As we envision a better future for our nation, I advise that we heed the lesson that Europe has been learning: that adding women does, in fact, change everything.