Exploring the labyrinth women navigate to leadership.
A 2011 study of Fortune 500 companies found those with at least three women on the board outperformed those companies with fewer female board members by 26 percent when it came to return on investment capital. That's according to Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on women and business. And a study by the consultant Zenger/Folkman in Utah of 7,280 leaders found that female executives and top managers outperformed men in overall leadership effectiveness 67.6 percent to 57.7 percent.
So in this hyper-competitive market, companies must be clamoring to find the best female talent, right? No. In fact, the majority of corporate executives have Y chromosomes and continue to earn higher salaries than women for performing similar jobs.
As of 2007, the latest statistics available, women owned 25.8 percent of NH businesses, according to The 2012 Status of Women and Girls Report in NH by the Women's Fund of NH.
Analyzing the Gap
Women pass up or may be passed over for leadership opportunities for different reasons, says Mary Johanna Brown, chair of the NH Women's Initiative and founder and president of Brown & Company Design in Portsmouth. We heard this in listening sessions across the state, she says of sessions held by the Initiative to hear about perspectives on gender equality, including women's role in the workplace. Some women feel this is because of continuing cultural bias, Brown says. Across the board, women are reporting that they have to work harder to be seen as a legitimate authority. Women also reported the challenge of cultural bias in the workplace once they became mothers. Employers would have preconceived notions about a mother's ability to perform.
Businesses, though, are realizing that as more women than men are pursuing college degrees, they need to adopt policies to attract and retain these workers, says Louise Rothery, executive director of The Northeast chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel in Massachusetts and a lecturer and author on women's issues. Whether it's allowing telecommuting, adjusting start times or more importantly, realizing that work/life balance is not a gender issue, companies are instituting family-friendly policies that could give women more opportunities to move up.
The question is, what do women want? A 2009 Pew Research Center study found that 62 percent of mothers who work full time would prefer working part time. I think women more than men have to really assess how ambitious am I? You've got to make some very hard decisions and you certainly need to pick the right partner, Rothery says of the need for a support system at home.
Family is an issue, but it's not the only one. A 2009 survey of gender equity by the NH Bar Association found there is indeed a gender gap: Of the 5,000 NH attorneys surveyed, no women reported making more than $200,000 while numerous men did. Women also reported lacking opportunities for advancement, and not being involved in management decisions or choosing their cases. The survey found marriage and children weren't impediments to advancement. There was a feeling they were less empowered. That had become worse in the last 10 years, says the study co-author, Beth Deragon, a shareholder and director at Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell in Concord. She says as a result of the survey, the NH Bar Association is holding training sessions on work/life balance and company culture; pay inequities; and recruitment, retention and promotion of female attorneys.
Where women do own businesses, they are often smaller, and that presents its own challenges. In her work with female business owners, MaryAnn Manoogian, executive director of the Center for Women's Business Advancement at Southern NH University, says women report trouble accessing loans. Some women looking for start-up or growth funds say the lenders are looking to make $50,000 or $100,000 capital investments, while they are looking for $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, she says.
It's Personal
Much of someone's business success comes from personality: how we work with others and thus their desire to work with us. Risk aversion and confidence-two traits cited for startup success-are traits female leaders identify as possible challenges.
Alyson Pitman Giles, the former CEO of Catholic Medical Center, tells the story of her husband (whom she was not married to at the time) risking everything to grow his construction company. He put every penny he had at risk for that company. One bad job and he could lose everything, she says, noting while he went through a bankruptcy in 1991, he eventually succeeded. Giles-despite having led one of the biggest hospital systems in NH-says I wouldn't have that appetite to risk everything. As a woman I would never do that.
Beth Roberts, senior vice president of regional markets for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England, says confidence is one of the issues Harvard Pilgrim addresses in its Women's Development Group, a mentoring program it runs for women. What we talk about sometimes is that women tend to worry about the one thing they don't know and men come to the table being very confident, Roberts says. So we talk about how women can find confidence in all the things they do know so they can advance in their careers.
Another key issue is family. Two working parents are common, but women often take on more of the child rearing-and that has career consequences. Technology makes it possible to work remotely, but Rothery notes, There is the challenge of being seen. If an office requires a lot of face time to move ahead, she says, You have to figure out how to do it. The path honestly is pretty wide open for them. Rothery says the glass ceiling is dissolving but women often must work harder than men for equal achievements.
Where Women Lead
Nationally, women find more leadership opportunities in health care (54 percent) and education (45 percent), according to the 2012 American Express OPEN report. These are often nonprofits, and pay less than private sector leadership roles, which is further compounded by the gender wage gap.
In many cases, women choose nonprofits because they like working for an organization focused on the greater good, and those jobs, says Mary Ellen Jackson, executive director of the NH Center for Nonprofits. The job I had 20 years ago, people said, I'm glad you're doing it', says Jackson. Now people want my job. I have had five younger women say, I want your job.' I think that's great, she says of the increasing status of nonprofit work.
Jackson says of the 8,400 nonprofits in NH, 80 percent have budgets under $100,000, and most have volunteer staff and are primarily led by women. Of the 1,600 with budgets over $500,000, 85 percent are run by woman, though the largest (Easter Seals and the NH Charitable Foundation to name two) are still run by men. Those dynamics are changing, though. In New Hampshire, I'm seeing as the gentlemen are retiring the next choice is a woman, Jackson says. She says the gender wage gap still exists in nonprofits between $800,000 and $5 million, but that women running the largest nonprofits ($10 million to $30 million budgets) have salaries on par with their male counterparts.
One of those leaders is Roberts, who frequents networking events and says she sees the same female leaders at them. She attributes that in part, at least in NH, to economic uncertainty, which has led people to stay in their jobs longer, leaving no new openings. Roberts says women tend be more communicative, and that adds value to boards. Harvard Pilgrim's board is 25 percent female. And when she was a leader with kids, she faced no opposition. I was in directorlevel management with two very young children and this helps other women see that you're normal. I can't tell you how many times I had to leave when my children were sick. It was never an issue, she says.
The Zenger/Folkman study found that of the top 16 competencies top leaders exemplify-including drive, initiative, innovation and motivation, women scored higher than men in every category except developing a strategic perspective. Women leaders are optimistic that barriers and gaps will break down in the coming years.
70% of women ages 25-30 believe men get more promotions, compared to 44% of men who see themselves as promoted more.
37.2% Percentage increase in the number of women-owned businesses in NH between 1997 and 2011.
< 20% of Fortune 500 boards that have woman as 25% or more as members in 2010 and 2011.
16.1% of women on boards of Fortune 500 companies nationally in 2011.
16% How much public companies with the most women board members outperform those with the least.
10% of Fortune 500 boards with no female members in 2010 and 2011.
8% of firms on BNH's Top 100 Private Companies list are women-led.
Sources: American Express OPEN survey, 2011 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Board Directors, Women's Fund of NH: The Status of Women and Girls in NH, Business NH Magazine research, Pew Research Center, Women and Business survey by KRC Research for Bentley College
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