Forty more years
How long will it take for women to reach parity with men in top corporate positions?
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published August 19, 2006
As if it wasn’t slow enough, women’s movement up the corporate hierarchy has gotten slower.
According to a recent study by Catalyst, a New York City research organization, the annual rate of growth in percent of corporate officer positions held by women is lower now than it was 10 years ago. It will take 40 years, at this rate, for women to reach parity with men in the corporate hierarchy.
Although half of the workers in management, professional and related occupations are women, just 16.4 percent have risen to officers of Fortune 500 companies. And until last week, only 10 of the Fortune 500 chief executives were women. Joining the ranks as No. 11 is Indian-born Indra Nooyi, 50, who steps up as chief executive officer at PepsiCo this year.
Damning as the Catalyst numbers may seem, the Tampa Bay area women interviewed here are undaunted by the findings. Young women just getting a foothold in their professions think the sheer momentum of their generation’s ambition will propel women to the top much faster than Catalyst predicts. Women who have made it to the corner office say it takes focus, constant cross-training and a willingness to make tough personal decisions to get there. And some wonder if parity in the chief executive suite is really important.
Joli Cooper, 47
Bio: Co-founder and partner in Cordova, Smart & Williams LLC, NYC; former executive with Vitality Beverages, Pasco Brands Inc., Nestle USA and Tropicana/Seagram.
Parity in the executive suite: “All I know is it will not be in my lifetime. I used to think the change would occur when men started having daughters vying for these kinds of positions. But the selection pool is not getting bigger.’’
Priorities: “I spent a year in London for business, coming home every other weekend, and I missed my son’s entire second-grade year. It was wonderful and terrible. Tough family decisions have to be made, but the best thing now is we have choices.’’
Domestic life: “I can run a $350-million business and travel all around the world, but the laundry will still be on the couch when I get home. My husband is supportive but traditional and I have three kids. But that keeps me extraordinarily grounded.’’
Why she left the corporate world: “I think 9/11 impacted people in different ways. When I considered the time I spent with my kids vs. the time I spent running my company, there was no comparison. I felt my family was getting the short end of the stick. Now I run a $150-million equity fund and I’m in New York every Monday. But the schedule is my schedule and the flexibility is worth its weight in gold.”
Patricia I. Higgins, 56
Bio: On boards of Delta Airlines, Barnes & Noble Inc., Visteon and Internap Network Services Corp.; retired chief executive, Switch & Data, Tampa, former executive with Alcoa, Unisys and Verizon.
Women’s progress: “The reality is it takes 20 to 30 years to prepare someone to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. So when you look at it from that perspective, there’s been significant progress.’’
A board’s role: “One of the top priorities is succession planning, so we’re always looking at internal candidates, from mid-management up, and making sure they get the kind of experiences they need to become senior managers. But it’s also important for an individual to take responsibility to develop her own career.’’
Why she retired: “After four years at Switch & Data I felt good about what I’d done and my husband had had a massive stroke, so I wanted to spend more time with him. I’m glad I did. He died six months after I retired and we had great quality time.”
Priorities: “I’ve made every single decision relative to my career on my own, but I don’t view them as sacrifices. I did not have children because it was not a priority.”
Nancy Preis, 56
Bio: CEO, Sensor Systems LLC, St. Petersburg; former investment banker, accounting professor at Columbia University.
On the Catalyst report: “Pretty depressing, isn’t it? But I think parity in the corner office could happen much faster than it predicts — or it could never happen at all. It’s quite possible women will continue to make choices that keep them out of the senior management ranks because they don’t want to do it. It is shocking how few directors are women, however. That’s not a full-time commitment.’’
Family life: “I didn’t have kids, not because of my job but because of the stupid men I fell in love with. To a degree, I think women have held themselves back by making choices to stay home, not work that hard and have a family. Did (former General Electric CEO) Jack Welch spend any time watching his kids grow up? Superstars tend to have tunnel vision. And a lot of them are not very nice people.’’
Her management style: “I have 130 employees and I’m probably more approachable than a lot of men would be in this position. People don’t see me as the CEO. I’m everybody’s bud. I’m their cheerleader.’’
Key support: “My co-owner and partner gave me room to screw up and time to fix my screw-ups. Women usually don’t get a second chance. Do men get a second chance? I don’t know. But women sure as hell don’t.’’
Theresa Schefstad, 48
Bio: Founder and retired president and CEO of Raymond James Bank, St. Petersburg.
Accountability: “The woman has to make sure she’s career-pathing herself correctly to achieve her ultimate goal. On the other hand, the company’s leadership needs to support that individual if they intend to have successful diversity.’’
A two-way street: “There are too many ‘how to be successful programs’ for women, while there are no programs for male counterparts to learn how to effectively interact with and support women in the workplace.”
Discrimination: “I used to say I’d rather talk about the Glass-Steagall Act than the glass ceiling, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, the subject of diversity continues to still be somewhat off limits with both parties hesitant to candidly discuss and resolve.’’
Priorities: “Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. I never dreamed of having a family. ’’
Beth Walters, 46
Bio: Vice president, investor relations and communications, Jabil Circuit Inc., St. Petersburg.
Her career: “If I’ve been successful, it’s because with a company like this, that’s grown 30 percent in 10 years, there are lots of opportunities. And I’ve taken advantage of them.’’
On being in the minority: “I’m primarily meeting with investors and almost all of them are men. I find they remember me a lot more than I remember them because I’m not just another guy in a dark suit. Not to say I don’t want other females out there, because that would be great. The females I see out there are damned impressive.’’
Breaking into a male world: I don’t feel like I’m excluded from anything I want to participate in here. I’m so in-your-face. It’s kind of a rough-and-tumble world here and I’m tough-skinned.
On family: “My husband has his own business, so he can be flexible about his hours. And I only have one kid, a 17-year-old son, so I don’t feel like I had to make a lot of sacrifices or put him at jeopardy. If I’d had two or three kids, it would have made a big difference.’’
Nicole Levin, 25
Bio: Field marketing manager, south region, Paetec Communications, Tampa; executive co-chair, Emerge Tampa.
Her career: “This is my fourth job since I graduated with a degree in marketing from the University of Florida. I’ve been with this telecommunications company for four months and my job is to get the Paetec name out there.’’
Catalyst’s findings: “I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s pretty easy to see those numbers aren’t balanced. But these days I don’t see stereotyping. Executives are looking for the best people who do the best job.’’
What’s holding women back: “Women who chose a career over kids may be looked down upon by other women. That’s a mentality that’s going to take a long time to change before women feel comfortable enough to say: ‘My career is very important to me and I’m going after it with everything I have.’ ”
Family life: “I’m single now, with no kids, but I think I’d have a really hard time staying at home full time. I’m just a very career-driven individual."
Laura Tillinghast, 31
Bio: Project manager, Beck Construction, Tampa; degree in aerospace engineer from U.S. Naval Academy.
On being in the minority: “I was the first of two women on my first ship, a cruiser with 300 people on a six-month deployment. And I was very fortunate because I had a captain who was very supportive. We had our share of senior enlisted men who weren’t interested in working with me. But by the end, we all got along just fine.’’
On discrimination: “I never felt I was denied an opportunity because I was a woman. But I don’t wake up every morning and define myself as a woman trying to conquer great things. I’m just working hard, trying to be successful as a member of the team.’’
On sexist stereotypes: “Annapolis was about 12 percent women when I started and there were certainly males there who were not very nice to me and didn’t think I should be there. But that’s an attitude of the past. Those people are the ones who don’t belong.’’
Family life: “I happen to be single with no kids but hopefully one day that might possibly change. My sister just had her second child and she got out of the corporate environment and went to work for my mom, who owns her own small business. While we might not want to be Fortune 500 CEOs, we can still be entrepreneurs with control over our hours and our personal lives.”