Women saw little advancement in corporate boardrooms and compensation in 2010, extending a 5-year trend in which companies have lagged in promoting and mentoring of women to their own detriment, according to a new study released on Monday.
"Corporate America needs to get 'unstuck' when it comes to advancing women to leadership," said Ilene Lang, president and chief executive of Catalyst, a non-profit organization that advocates greater opportunities for women.
The study was based on annual filings made by Fortune 500 companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission or, in the case of insurance companies, to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
The study found that 136 of the Fortune 500 companies had no women executives. Among those with no women were Exxon Mobil, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Costco Wholesale and Sears, the study said.
"This is our fifth report where the annual change in female leadership remained flat. If this trend line represented a patient's pulse, she'd be dead," Lang said.
Women held 14.4 percent of executive officer positions in 2010, up from 13.5 percent in 2009, and female executive officers held 7.6 percent of the top earning positions, up from 6.3 percent in 2009, the 2010 Catalyst Census said.
The best five companies in terms of women in the executive suit were: Gap 50 percent, H&R Block 50 percent, Limited Brands 50 percent, TIAA-CREF 50 percent and Western Union 45.5 percent.
Women held 15.7 percent of board seats in 2010, a 0.5 percentage point gain over 2009, and more than 10 percent of companies lacked any women on their boards in 2009 and 2010.
Catalyst research showed men with mentors were promoted more and compensated at a higher rate than women, while women with mentors were far less likely to be promoted or paid more as a result of being mentored.
Companies need to be convinced that diversity in leadership was important, Lang said.
"To be successful they have to have more points of view -- people from all kinds of background and have diversity in the senior leadership," she said. "It's core to the strategy."
(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
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(Agencies)
周一发布的一项新调查显示，2010年公司董事会中女性所占比例和女性劳动报酬几乎没有任何增长。这显示了公司在提拔和指导女性方面做得不足，这种不利于公司自身发展的趋势在过去五年都没有改变。
Catalyst公司总裁兼执行总监艾琳•朗说：“美国企业在提拔女性当领导这方面应该更加开明。” Catalyst是一家非盈利组织，致力于为女性争取更多的机会。
这项调查的数据来源于财富500强企业向美国证券交易委员会上交的年度报表，其中保险公司的数据来自它们向美国保险监督官协会上交的年度报表。
调查发现，财富500强企业中有136家没有女性高管。这些公司包括埃克森美孚石油公司、伯克希尔•哈撒韦公司、花旗集团、好市多公司以及西尔斯公司。
朗说：“本年度女性领导的人数变化曲线呈直线型，这已经是我们第五年发布有类似结果的调查报告。如果用这条直线来体现病人的心跳变化，那表示这个病人已经死了。”
Catalyst公司的调查显示2010年女性高管的比例为14.4%，高于09年的13.5%。2010女性高管占据“最赚钱职位”的7.6%，2009年这一数据为6.3%。
如果以女性高管所占的比例来衡量，表现最好的五家公司是：盖普公司（50%）、H&R布洛克报税代理公司（50%）、有限品牌公司（50%）、美国教师退休基金会（50%）和西联国际汇款公司（45.5%）。
2010年500强企业的董事会中有15.7%是女性成员，比2009年上升0.5个百分点。2009年和2010年均有超过10%的公司董事会中没有女性成员。
Catalyst公司研究发现，有职业导师的男性比女性更易得到提拔，也更容易拿到高工资。而女性即使有导师的指导，她们得到晋升或者拿到高薪的可能性也远低于男性。
朗说，公司要相信领导层的多样性很重要。
她说：“一个公司要想成功，就应该听取更多来自背景各异的人们的不同观点。公司高管层应实现多样化，这是公司战略的关键。”
