Calling all women — to the boardroom!

By Juli Weintraub, VP Business Development, PEO

First in a series of blogs relating to women’s advancement in business…

Are  women changing the business landscape as they have changed academia?  Women appear to have the monopoly in the classroom. They are dominating not only as students, but as teachers in a surprising range of industries, including healthcare and accounting. For the first time in U.S. history, there soon will be three U.S. female Supreme Court Justices and the Presidential succession now includes  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as third and fifth in line respectively.

Unfortunately, women don’t seem to be dominating in the boardroom. The Catalyst 2009 Census reported women were holding a mere 14 per cent of seats on the board of Financial Post 500 companies. What is stopping these women from reaching their potential, as their presence in the classroom, the court and diplomacy clearly proves they are qualified and capable to fill top roles?  Why aren’t women eagerly climbing the corporate ladder, unlike their male counterparts? Is the ladder that much trickier to climb?

Preference for interactivity?

It is that old preference for interactive positions?  Women unquestionably represent a significant majority in professions that focus on networking, in particular, supervisory positions in business and finance and non-profit organizations. Maybe, it comes down to discrimination. When women do enter the corporate landscape, they change it, for the better and maybe established males in the organization oppose the transformation.

Women often ask, “Is the world ready for the change we’d bring?”

More profitable with women on the board?

The London Times published a Leeds University study that women still talk about when they imagine a world in which their corporate presence was equal to men’s. The study suggested that women can make the difference between success and bankruptcy. Having at least one female director on the board cut a company’s chances of going bust by about 20 per cent, according to Leeds Professor Nick Wilson, who looked at a remarkable 17,000 companies that wound up their operations.

“I was really quite surprised at how robust the finding was,” Professor Wilson told the London Times. Having two or three female directors lowered the chances of bankruptcy even farther, but the benefits tapered off once the gender split was 50:50.

If that’s the case – why do they only represent such a small percentage of executives overall? Why aren’t we encouraging more women to do make the corporate climb?

Is it because looking at the top of the ladder can be extremely intimidating? Whether you are male or female, everyone needs help along the way. Everyone needs a little push – or support from others. I feel that’s what’s missing in the corporate ladder—peer support from both genders.