RESOURCES

2011

Every year, the 20-first Global Gender Balance Scorecard looks at a single measure of progress: the gender balance of the Executive Committee of the TOP 100 companies in three key regions of the globe. A growing number of studies, from McKinsey, Catalyst and a range of universities show the correlation between gender balance in leadership and improved corporate performance. The complementary skills and styles of men and women have a positive impact on business. Not surprising, when most of the educated talent in the world and a majority of the consumer market is female. Today, more and more companies are waking up to this 21st century reality and have begun to make gender balance in leadership a strategy priority. Let’s take a look at what the top companies around the world have achieved to date.

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2010

Women directors appear to be more assertive on a number of hot-button issues, including evaluating their own board’s performance and supporting more oversight on boards. This changing dynamic will likely usher in a new era of governance and perhaps more significant changes for US companies and their boards over the next several years.

2010

The growing number of women taking a seat in the corporate boardroom has prompted an increased interest in how these directors approach board service versus their male peers. In the wake of the financial crisis, with widespread discussion about board accountability, it is especially important to ask how male and female directors diverge in their approach to the boardroom. How do both genders feel trust in boards can be restored? How do men and women differ – and agree – when rating their boards’ effectiveness in handling fundamental board responsibilities? Do either men or women directors believe that quotas are necessary for creating a more diverse boardroom?

2010

2012

The 2011 Catalyst Census: Financial Post 500 Women Board Directors details women’s representation on corporate boards at the largest companies in Canada. This biennial report provides critical statistics to gauge women’s advancement into leadership and highlights the gender diversity gap. Each year Catalyst tracks:

• Women’s share of all board seats.
• Women’s share of board leadership positions at public companies.
• Women’s share of board seats at public, private, Crown, and cooperative companies.
• All companies with 0 percent, 25 percent or more, and 40 percent or more women directors.

The appendices provide additional points of comparison by region and industry as well as list companies with the highest and lowest representation of women board directors.

2011

The 2011 Spencer Stuart Silicon Valley Board Index highlights important trends in director recruitment, board processes and compensation among the region’s top 100 public technology companies. This year’s index presents some notable data

2011

Our seventh annual study details the presence of women at the very top of the 400 largest publicly held corporations headquartered in the state. Our findings paint a disappointing picture of female representation on the boards and in the executive suites of these high-profile companies, which together represent nearly $3 trillion in shareholder value.

Women still hold fewer than one in 10 of the highest-paid executive positions and board seats at the top public firms in California — a rate that has improved by just 0.2 percent annually.

2011 March 8

In its 2011 Women on Boards Report, GovernanceMetrics International, the leading independent global corporate governance and ESG research firm, shows that 40 percent of the world’s largest publicly listed companies have not appointed even one woman to their boards. Even in major markets like Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States women continue to be grossly under-represented on corporate boards. Not surprisingly, the issue of board diversity is generating a healthy level of public debate.

2011

The survey was conducted between April 28 and May 23, 2011.

2012

Which gender supplies better leaders for organizations? Based on research conducted by Zenger Folkman, the authority in strengths-based leadership development, the answer is rather clear and quite shocking. As far as the 16 researched differentiating leadership competencies are concerned women excelled in a majority of areas.

2010 September

Workplaces are developing innovative ways to accommodate families, and they're finding that it increases worker productivity.

2012

2010

The 2010 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors examines women’s representation in corporate governance at the largest companies in the United States. This annual report provides critical statistics to gauge women’s advancement into leadership and highlights the gender diversity gap. Each year Catalyst tracks:

• Women’s share of all board seats and of positions of board leadership
• The representation of women of color directors
• The percentage of companies with zero to three or more women and women of color directors

2011

This assessment is to determine the effectiveness of the policies, training, and procedures of the academy with respect to sexual harassment and assault involving academy personnel. In APYs beginning in even-numbered years (e.g., APY 10-11), the Report is comprised of the Department’s assessment, statistical data on sexual assault, and results of focus groups of cadets and midshipmen conducted by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC).

2009 May

The study findings supported the view that before individuals will support efforts to right an inequality they must first recognize that the inequality exists. Men who were more aware of gender bias were more likely to say that it was important to them to achieve gender equality. Other findings revealed three key factors that predicted men’s awareness of gender bias: 1) defiance of certain masculine norms, 2) the presence or absence of women mentors, and 3) a sense of fair play. Of those three factors, having a strong sense of fair play, defined as a strong commitment to the ideals of fairness, was what also best differentiated men who actively championed gender equality from those who were not similarly engaged. Lastly, interview findings revealed three key barriers that could undermine men’s support for initiatives to end gender bias: apathy, fear, and ignorance about gender issues.

2012

2011

The benefits of gender-diverse leadership extend beyond short-term financial performance. Companies with both women and men leaders in the boardroom and at the executive table are poised to achieve sustainable big wins for the company and society. New data from Catalyst and researchers from Harvard Business School suggest that gender-inclusive leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR), examined through the lens of corporate philanthropy, are linked. Findings in Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It’s A Matter of Sustainability include:

• Compared to companies without women executive leaders, companies with gender-inclusive leadership teams contributed, on average, more charitable funds.
• Even after controlling for key factors that might influence total donations, the presence of women leaders in Fortune 500 companies still has a significant, positive effect: more women leaders is correlated with higher levels of philanthropy.
• By keeping gender issues prominent, gender-inclusive leadership likely also affects the quality of CSR initiatives.

When it comes to corporate sustainability, stakeholders should look to a new benchmark to help judge the long-term health of a company: the presence of gender-inclusive leadership, both on the board and in executive leadership teams.

2011

According to a survey of 2009 films, male roles far outweigh those for women, women are far more likely to be scantily dressed, and a storyteller's sex affects what's depicted on-screen.

2011

The International Women’s Media Foundation commissioned the study to closely examine gender equity in the news media around the world, and inform the development of a formal Plan of Action to improve the status of women. The global study looked at women in the workforce, pay differences, terms of employment and pro-equality policies in newsrooms.

2012

GMI Ratings’ 2012 Women on Boards survey includes data on over 4,300 companies in 45 countries around the globe. The results show incremental improvement in most measures of female board representation since our 2011 report. For the first time ever, women hold more than one in ten board seats globally: 10.5% of the directors in our coverage universe are now women, a 0.7 percentage point increase from last year.

2010

Peter Damisch, Monish Kumar, Anna Zakrzewski, and Natalia Zhiglinskaya

As wealth management clients, women are both significant and undervalued. They control about 27 percent of the world’s wealth (meaning that they decide where the assets are invested), yet more than half of the women we surveyed feel that wealth managers could do a better job of meeting the needs of female clients—and nearly a quarter think that wealth managers could significantly improve how they serve women.

2012

Study after study finds that, when women run for office, they perform just as well as their male counterparts. No differences emerge in women and men’s fundraising receipts, vote totals, or electoral success. Yet women remain severely under-represented in U.S. political institutions. We argue that the fundamental reason for women’s under-representation is that they do not run for office. There is a substantial gender gap in political ambition; men tend to have it, and women don’t.

2012

Since women gained the right to vote in 1920, we‘ve changed laws, practices and attitudes to promote fairness and opportunity,‖ said Lee Roper-Batker, president and CEO of Women‘s Foundation of Minnesota. ―Despite current laws that guarantee equal opportunity for all women and men, our research paints a different picture: Minnesota women and girls are stalled on the road to equality.

2012

2010

Perhaps it is a reflection of trends in the state’s economy, but the year ending June 30, 2010 was a gloomy one for women seeking leadership positions in the largest public companies in Massachusetts. This was not for the lack of talent or opportunity. A more likely explanation is that many male-dominated companies simply hunkered down and chose to “play it safe” with like-minded and familiar individuals who, not surprisingly, are other men. The few rays of sunshine piercing through this gloom come from companies that historically have demonstrated their recognition that a diverse leadership group makes good business sense.