L. Duksaitė: ‘Fortune500 figures: changing the number of female CEOs is like putting on iron shoes’
The new list of Fortune 500 Companies was published in June. There are changes. But the change in the proportion of female CEOs is happening at a pace that is like trying to put on a pair of iron shoes.
Just like last year, only one in ten CEOs on this list is a woman.
No shift in one year
Of the 500 companies on the list, 52 are headed by women. Last year was the first time this number crossed the one-tenth mark, but it hasn’t budged a fingernail in a year. It is as if, at this threshold, the market were already “saturated” with female CEOs.
Some of the women on last year’s list have dropped out, some have been replaced by male managers, but there are also some new ones. Another telling fact is that women have been Fortune 500 CEOs for an average of 4.5 years, compared to one and a half times as long for men – 7.2 years.
However, a quarter of a century ago, the picture was even bleaker. In 1998, the first decade of Lithuania’s independence, there were only 2 companies in the Fortune 500 headed by women.
What drives these figures?
The same as in Lithuania.
The reasons are not related to education (there are more women with higher education), starting position (a similar number of women as men start their jobs) or skills. Sometimes it is a lack of ambition or a lack of courage to take risks (which, by the way, is often what we program into our daughters).
But the root of the problem usually starts at the first rung of the career ladder: for every 100 male promotions, there are only 87 female promotions. Fighting for survival in the absence of support in senior positions. The “penalty” of a maternity break adds to the problem, as it is after this that the gaps between income and career opportunities become apparent.
What we can do
What can every company do to ensure that the ratio of female to male managers is equal?
Jennifer McCollum, Catalyst Inc. CEO, points out that things like sponsorship and mentoring for women in their career paths, as well as affordable childcare, flexibility at work and care for women’s reproductive health would be very helpful. And more talk about what companies stand to gain from this equality.
In just a couple of years, the EU Directive will require not only a declaration of gender equality on paper, but also gender equality in reality on the boards of listed companies. It remains to be seen how the change will proceed.
Slowly for now, like those unsprouted Spruce Curls.
