 Why Are So Few Women in Corporate Leadership, Asks FORTUNE MagazineWhy Are So Few Women in Corporate Leadership, Asks Fortune Magazine Washington, DC, May 26, 2006—Deborah Frett, CEO for Business and Professional Women/USA and Business and Professional Women’s Foundation is featured in the May 29th issue of Fortune Magazine in a special Women in Business Career’s section sponsored by Catalyst. The article discusses reasons and possible solutions to career advancement for women in the corporate sector. “Don’t pigeonhole women in HR or administrative jobs but offer opportunities to gain the experience in finance and programmatic areas that leadership demands,” said Frett. The article included a section of Win/Win Solutions, advice to companies for policies that would support the advancement of women into leadership; one of which was a highlight of BPW Foundation’s National Employer Summit (NES), part of its Employer Initiative designed to encourage collaboration of employers and workingwomen to create successful workplaces. Challenge assumptions to change policies. The Business and Professional Women’s
Foundation
recently held
Workplaces and Workforces in Transition: A National Employer Summit to assess how employers could raise more
women to leadership. Topping the list of what a workplace that promoted women should look like was the
recommendation that companies must “challenge their mental models and assumptions.” Says Deborah Frett, CEO
of Business and Professional Women/USA and Business and Professional Women’s Foundation, “Companies
recognize that by creating different policies, they create opportunities to tap the pool of candidates and
to retain them.”
The article included insights from Ilene H. Lang, president, Catalyst; Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., author and president, Corporate Coaching International; Deborah Merrill-Sands, Ph.D., dean of Simmons College School of Management; Charles O’Reilly, Ph.D., professor, Stanford University Frank E. Buck Graduate School of Business. A Q&A was featured with Charles Holliday, Jr., chairman and CEO, DuPont and chair, Catalyst Board of Directors, entitled This CEO’s Point of View. BPW/USA and BPW Foundation are sister organizations created to provide resources to workingwomen. BPW/USA is a multi-generational, bipartisan membership organization that fosters the success of workingwomen by providing career advancement resources, work life strategies and personal and professional connections. BPW Foundation is a nonprofit, educational institution and neutral convener that is partnering with employers on behalf of workingwomen. BPW Foundation recently released a final report from its inaugural NES, Resources and Policy Changes Needed to Create Successful Workplaces, aimed at improving the workplace for women and families. The second annual NES, Raising Profits and Potential, is scheduled for November 9, 2006 in Washington, DC. Copies of the report and NES information are available at www.bpwfoundation.org or upon request; email to foundation@bpwusa.org. In 1956, Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation became the first foundation dedicated to conducting research and providing information solely about workingwomen. The mission of BPW Foundation is to empower workingwomen to achieve their full potential and to partner with employers to build successful lworkplaces. BPW Foundation is a nonprofit research, and educational institution governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees. Business and Professional Women/USA, founded in 1919, promotes equity for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education and information. With 1,300 Local Organizations across the country and members in every congressional district, BPW/USA is the leading advocate for millions of workingwomen on work-life effectiveness and workplace equity issues. ### |