A gentle breeze of change.
Posted By Astrid Bosten On January 23, 2012 @ 6:04 am In Women in Business | No Comments
Virginia Rometty is new Chief Executive of IBM. [1] Since 1st of January she took over her new responsibilities and therewith, is the first female CEO of one of the largest technology companies in the world. This example is a rarity – not just for Corporate America. Currently there are only 12 female CEOs/Presidents in the Fortune 500.
[3]Henkel, [2] IBM and Deutsche Telekom have set good examples in 2011 by appointing women to their boards. This change in culture is just what Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission [4], would like to further develop throughout business. Her own mission is to see more women sitting in the boardroom around Europe. At the Women’s Forum in 2011 she said, “60 percent of graduates are female, but you don’t find them in the workplace later on. And you certainly don’t find them at the level they deserve.” [2] In her opinion it should be in the interest of the companies to get those women promoted, to get them in and to get them work. “We see that women who are doing MBAs have achieved very strong MBAs with very good results. And later on, in the workplace, they are passed over by their male colleagues who have not done so well.” She wants to join forces at all levels. At the political level, of course, but also at the business level. The debate is not new and although the proportion of women in boardrooms is still quite low some changes can already been observed.
The British government has been keen to promote itself as a strong supporter of women in business. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, recently said that he wants to get rid of the “usual sort of rotating list of men patting each other’s backs and increasing the level of remuneration. I want to see more women in Britain’s boardrooms, which I think would have a thoroughly good influence” [5]. An independent review by Lord Davies [6] recommended that at least a quarter of the board members among UK listed companies in the FTSE 100 should be female. But the reality shows that only 21 out of 93 possible positions have been assigned with female candidates. The 30 Percent Club aims to change this fact. Their Goal: Improving diversity around the top table by getting 30 percent of the seats filled by women. But they do not want to force chairmen to this result via a quota. They want to motivate and encourage them to change their attitudes.
This is the approach Henkel has also chosen to increase the proportion of women in top leadership positions. Henkel’s holistic diversity management approach has three focus diversity dimensions: gender, age and internationality. In the center of all diversity initiatives and measures around the globe, however, Henkel puts the cultural aspect: the appreciation of the diversity.
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[13]Article printed from Henkel Diversity Blog: http://www.henkeldiversity.com
URL to article: http://www.henkeldiversity.com/2012/01/23/wind-of-change.html
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[1] Virginia Rometty is new Chief Executive of IBM.: http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2011/11/01/ginni-rometty-benefits-of-staying-put/?KEYWORDS=catalyst
[2] In Europe the boardrooms are a little more diverse in terms of Gender Diversity, but they differ not by much. For Tina Marron-Patridge, executive partner at IBM London, this is not a surprising fact. “Men are often looking for mirror images of themselves and that can make it harder for women.” : http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=56163&t=1&c=5&cg=3&mset=1021
[3] Image: http://global-diversity.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/KathrinMengesPortrait012012_252287_web_425H_425W.jpg
[4] Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding/index_en.htm
[5] the “usual sort of rotating list of men patting each other’s backs and increasing the level of remuneration. I want to see more women in Britain’s boardrooms, which I think would have a thoroughly good influence”: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/03/cameron-women-boardroom-curb-greed
[6] independent review by Lord Davies: http://www.henkeldiversity.com/2011/03/01/a-call-for-more-women-in-the-boardroom-uk.html
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