Women still have a long way to go before achieving parity with their male counterparts in the workplace, according to a new report released by The Conference Board.

The Executive Action Report is based on the views of a diverse group of business executives and organizations participating at The Conference Board's 2003 Women's Leadership Conference in New York.

Despite progress in recent years, significant gender gaps persist, the report reveals. Only 15.7 percent of the directors in Fortune 500 companies are women, according to Catalyst. In Europe, women hold only 3 to 4 percent of all senior executive jobs.

Deborah Anderson
The Conference Board; Author of the report
"Women executives suffer from inequities in a variety of areas, ranging from wages to representation on boards and corporate officer ranks, to attitudes about networking and job opportunities. Leaders and companies attempting to bridge the gender gap point to several barriers standing in the way of achieving parity, including work-life balance challenges, a lack of awareness among senior executives, and inadequate networking, mentoring and visibility opportunities."

The report cites this year's Business Leadership Index of The Committee of 200 (C200), which measures women's clout in business and concludes that "women business leaders continue to show slow, but steady and determined progress toward parity with men in major spheres of influence within the business world."

"But we are still less than halfway to parity," the C200 says. "Women entered the workforce in droves in the 1970s, and after 30 years of significant participation in the American business arena, we still have a long way to go ... If the current trends were to continue, businesswomen would still need a minimum of two more decades to reach an equal footing on all fronts with their male counterparts."

"The fact that there's still a gender-wage gap is inexcusable and really a black eye for corporate America," says Connie K. Duckworth, chair of C200. "In my mind, there's no reason to have pay inequity."

"We still have significant challenges," says Sally Helgesen, an author and expert on the role of women leaders in the knowledge economy. "In the 1990s it seemed that women would have increasingly larger roles in their organizations but women's progress is not as rampant as had been predicted."

Research by WFD Consulting cited in the report shows that many women have been stifled at work because they must juggle family responsibilities to a far greater extent than men. Working women are almost twice as likely to have spouses who work full-time, while men are far more likely to have spouses who work only part-time or do not hold down jobs outside the home.

The report offers solutions for putting women on an equal footing, ranging from more aggressive awareness campaigns and stronger mentoring and networking programs to a genuine endorsement of work-life balance, gender-neutral processes, and accountability for achieving specific, measurable objectives.

Other research covered in the report was conducted by Christenson Hutchison McDowell (CHM) Partners International LLC, Right Management Consultants, the Women's Global Business Alliance and DiversityInc.com. Sources included in the report represent a variety of other corporations and consulting organizations, including BMO Financial Group; Cambridge Hill Partners, Inc.; the Center for Creative Leadership; Eisai, Inc.; Engelhard Corporation; Ernst & Young LLC; Fine Line Consulting, Inc.; The Johnsson Group, Inc.; Pope and Associates, Inc.; Spherion Corporation; and Steuben Glass.

The Conference Board will be offering several other conferences this year on diversity and leadership issues, including The 2003 Annual Diversity Conference ("Diversity Leadership: Enhancing Business Performance by Building upon Diverse Talent") May 19 through 21 in New York and June 9 through 11 in Chicago, "Achieving High Performance Organisations through Strategic Leadership" Conference in London May 21 and 22 and "Women in Leadership: A European Business Imperative" in Geneva June 17 and 18. For more information, visit The Conference Board's website at www.conference-board.org.

Source: Bridging the Gaps ... Putting Women on an Equal Footing
The Conference Board, Executive Action Report No. 53