FastCompany’s blog summarizes the results of a recent Catalyst survey of Fortune 500 company directors.

Guess what?  Women are making progress!  Wahoo! 

What b*llshit.  I couldn’t resist commenting on this so-called improvement over the last two years, when directorships held by women increased from 9.5% to 13.6%:

Am I supposed to be enthusiastic about this increase, when according to the 2000 Census, 46% of the workforce at that time was female?

What percentage of the workforce will women comprise in twenty years -- another GENERATION or more from now?

It's been nearly 40 years since Title VII of the Civil Rights Act became law. Two generations already and women have gained only 13.6% of seats at the corporate boardroom table?

One might argue an insufficiency of qualified women in the pipeline -- but the rate of women receiving bachelors doesn't support this. In 1960, 35 percent of bachelor's degrees were awarded to women; in 1980, women received 50%. Last year 57% of all bachelor's degrees were awarded to women.

We need to look real hard at the reasons why the boardroom isn't keeping up with the pipeline. After the debacles of Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Global Crossings, etc., I can't help but wonder if a few more women in the boardroom wouldn't help enormously.

It’s about time that shareholders and stakeholders started clueing in that a genuine diversity of leadership in management might make a difference in the pocketbook.

2:45:47 PM    comment []