South Florida's Vibrant Economic Landscape for Women - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Ahead of the Fall 2009 International Women’s Forum in Miami, the number of South Florida businesses owned by women is large, but women have a relatively tiny presence at the top of the region’s corporate sector, according to a large profile by The Miami Herald.

• South Florida is “at the leading edge of the nation in the number of women-owned start-ups,” the newspaper reported, with nearly 275,000 women-owned business in Miami generating more than $45 billion in revenue in 2008.

• But like so many other regions in the US and around the world, that entrepreneurial success is not matched by C-suite positions. Only 2% of the top 150 public companies’ CEOs in the region are women, well below corresponding national averages. Only 20 of the nearly 300 top executives at Florida’s largest 70 companies are women. Even worse, just 26 women held executive positions at the largest 150 companies, vs 700 men.

• Board membership is not much better: Women hold just 7.4% of board seats at the top 150 Florida public companies — down from 8.7 percent in 2006.

• Tere Blanca, a former chair of the Greater Miami Chamber Commerce, explained, “The structure in place is not flexible to accommodate the new world with women engaged in business, family, children and the community. … There are some [South Florida] organisations that got it and developed internal infrastructure to offer flexibility to accommodate women. Most still have a way to go.’‘

• One of those few women CEOs in the area, Ana Lopez-Blazquez of Baptist Health Enterprises, explained the obvious: “A lot of boards still are male-dominated and feel more comfortable with a male CEO.” At least her board is gender-balanced, with women holding 6 of the 12 seats. “The women bring incredible talent, perspective and experience to our board,’‘ she said.

The Miami Herald article