Women in Business- Sitting at the Table

Let's share some happy statistics and not so happy statistics about women in business...


Happy Statistics:

• Women have strong purchasing power, and are estimated to make ~80% of all consumer purchases
• Dove, after launching their "real women" campaign, saw a 600% increase in sales
• Studies have shown that women are a critical component in running successful organizations
• Profits at Fortune 500 firms that most aggressively promoted women were 34% higher than industry medians
• European firms with the highest proportion of women in power saw their stock value climb 64% over two years, compared with an average of 47%
•  Between 1997 and 2002, female led firms grew at 20% while overall firms grew by just 7%

• Leaving all other things equal, increasing the female workforce to male levels would boost US GDP by 9%

Not So Happy Statistics:

• 2% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women
• Women make up less than 13% of all board members in America
• Female MBAs are paid an average of $4,600 less than their male counterparts in salary
• Women still make ~80 cents on the dollar
• Women senior leaders were more than 3x more likely to have lost their jobs due to downsizing or closure
• Although women have increased in the ranks of higher education (50.4%), the average business school still only has ~35% female population

Bottom line- it's a tough world out there! On a particularly rough day at work (consulting unfortunately is a largely male-dominated field which presents its own very unique problems- more on that later), I found myself looking for inspiration and a little bit of a pick-me-up. I stumbled on this Ted Talk featuring Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook). I find her viewpoint refreshing- she's not pressing judgments- not blaming women that choose to start a family on "keeping women back", not blaming corporate women on "not doing enough" to further our female domination. I think that a couple of her points are spot on- all too often in my job, especially at the younger levels, I see women that are timid (perfectly normal) especially at the outset of their career. I think that being timid at the outset is definitely normal, but there needs to be a balance. Getting acclimated, learning the politics and generally settling in is okay and good at the outset, but I've seen that it's all too easy to become comfortable with sitting in the corner, taking notes.

When I first started in consulting, one of the women I worked with told me to never take notes. "You shouldn't ever take notes because, if you do, they assume that you'll do it all the time. Before you know it, that's all you do. Then you'll never be able to add value to the team. You'll never get promoted without adding value..". She was a bit intense. But the logic holds, after awhile, not only are you bottom of the team totem pole, but you're the designated note taker. Since no one likes that role, you're stuck there for awhile.

So to echo Sheryl's advice- go ahead and sit at the table ladies. You have nothing to lose. I wouldn't go so far to say you refuse to do them, but make sure that you're a member of the team- not just the note taker. It's a relative concept- do the actions you would normally think are "aggressive", because although you find them aggressive, it's more likely that it's very acceptable/expected in the workplace. Pull up a chair. Sit at the table.


Sources:

• Catalyst MBA Information
• Higher Education Statistics