Boys Only Boards
BusinessWeek reports that 29 companies on Standard and Poor’s 500 list have no women on their board of directors or among their five highest-paid officers. See the list of 29 companies here.
- The 29 companies represent a variety of industries, including uniform maker Cintas, wireless provider MetroPCS, and Oprah Winfrey Network producer Discovery Communications
- One-third of the companies on the list are in oil and gas (e.g. Range Resources, EOG Resources, and Diamond Offshore Drilling)
Aida Alvarez, formerly of the Small Business Administration and now sitting on the boards of Walmart and Union Bank, points out that it is good business to have women on the board because women make up half of the customers and half the employees.
- Avon, Estee Lauder, and Macy’s are the only companies among the S&P 500 where women hold more than 40% of board seats
- Women hold only 2.6 percent of board chairmanships, according to Catalyst
- According to Bloomberg, the number of women on corporate boards among the S&P 500 companies has dropped from 16.6 percent to 16 percent
“There is a concern that some of the initial progress was tokenism. Many companies said, ‘We have one woman on our board now, so we can check that box off; we have quote unquote gender diversity.’” – Joe Keefe, president and CEO of Pax World Management
CREATING BALANCE WITH QUOTAS
- Many European companies have created quotas for corporate boards
- Norway, Spain, and France now have legal quotas to increase equality on corporate boards
- 37.9 percent of directors at Norway’s largest companies are women (and that number is legally required to hit 40 percent by 2017)
“If you only have one woman on a board then it can be difficult … If you have at least some numbers, then you feel more empowered about opening up and expressing your doubts.” – Aida Alvarez
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