Promoting Women Increases The Bottom Line
Fortune 500 Companies Recognize A Good Thing!
Just like the Fortune 500 companies, your company should be looking for ways to do better financially. Wouldn’t it be a kick if that turned out to be by promoting more women into upper management? Wouldn’t it be great if your stockholders thought this would also be good for their pockets? Well, the kicker is . . . it’s true! Now you need to get the word out. And to do that, you need proof. Catalyst, a New York-based research organization has provided the proof.
Catalyst found that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women in their senior management teams had a 35 percent higher Return on Equity—a key measure of profitability—and a 34 percent higher Total Return to Shareholders—capital gains plus dividends—than companies with the lowest representation of women at the senior level.
So, promoting women up, way up, increases the bottom line. I hope you’re asking yourself, “Aren’t women being promoted?” For those of you, the resounding answer is “No.” Women are half our workforce and only 16%—that’s way less than half—of our upper management. There are many subtle obstacles that cause this situation. The Good News is these obstacles can avoided by smart women preparing for them and by smart companies taking an active role in removing them.
What could be the reasons for a financial upside to promoting women? Catalyst is careful not to try to guess at what causes these numbers. But I’m not shy, I’ll give you my thoughts. I believe women bring a different way of looking at things that a group of men may have overlooked. I’m not saying the men’s viewpoint is wrong, but asking them to consider a different direction, a different product, is valuable.
Also having more female role models will attract the best-qualified women to your company. Heather Arnet of the Post Gazette says, “Demonstrating a true commitment to paying women fair wages and providing opportunities for advancement within your corporate and board structure will enable your company to compete for the most qualified workers in the market.” And now more women than men are graduating from our universities.
It’s a novel turn of events that we now need to say, “Don’t promote women because it’s the right thing to do. Promote women because it’s good for the bottom line.”
Tip: Get the word out. Refer your CEO to Deloitte & Touche, IBM, or Johnson & Johnson to see how they’re removing obstacles to promoting women and gaining the financial upper hand. If you’re running your own business, as many women today are, visa versa is a good idea. Ask a man for his viewpoint—you may be surprised. Of course, if you’re the boss, you get to make the final decision.
Further Reading:
WomensMedia, by Catalyst, Workplace Diversity: How to Tackle Resistance
Catalyst, Financial Performance is Higher for Companies with More Women at Top
Post Gazette, by Heather Arnet, Top 10 Reasons for More Women
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