1. Research shows high-potential women advance more slowly than their male peers, in terms of both career progression and pay, even though they employ career strategies similar to men’s. Organizations that neglect this critical issue risk lagging behind their competitors in attracting, developing, and retaining the best candidates to serve as the next generation of leaders.
2. Women in rich countries make around 80% of all consumer buying decisions, and yet represent <16% of corporate board membership that drives consumer decisions.
3. Women’s labor force participation rate is projected to be 57% in 2020.
4. Companies that have women directors and executive officers lead by example. They send a clear message that they value diversity of thought and experience. Advancing women to positions of leadership is smart business.
5. 15.6% of corporate directors are women, and yet:
- women comprise about half of the total U.S. workforce;
- women hold half of all management positions.
(Source: Market Watch 2012)
6. Women account for 10 million majority-owned, privately-held firms in the U.S., employing over 13 million people and generating over $1.9 trillion in sales.
7. The income gap between the genders: lifetime earnings for a male with a professional degree are roughly forty percent (39.59%) higher than those of a female with an equal professional degree.
8. Studies in the UK show that, “companies where women make up a third of board members made on average 42% more profit, and shareholders received 53% higher returns.”
9. On Aug. 26, 2013, the California State Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 62,1 which calls for greater representation of women on corporate boards, with a 30-6 vote.
10. Our labor force is about 50 percent women for the first time in history, but three-quarters of moms are now in the labor force and half are primary breadwinners for their families. (Source: Huffington Post, 2/11/14 Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director/CEO and Co-Founder of MomsRising.org)
11. The vast majority (81 percent) of women in America have children by the time they’re 44 years old, and for too long the adverse economic impacts of motherhood have been hidden and ignored. In fact, motherhood is now a greater predictor of inequality than gender in the United States of America. Many moms are working full time, playing by the rules, and still struggling to make ends meet. (Source for 11 & 12: Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director/CEO and Co-Founder of MomsRising.org)
12. Only 9 percent of all women in the labor force earn $75,000 or more annually — and it is mainly in those relatively rare highly paid jobs that people are likely to have access to workplace policies like sick days and family leave. On the other hand 37 percent of women earn between $30,000 and $74,999 annually, and 54 percent earn less than $30,000 annually. In other words, there are vastly more women in low wage positions than in high. (Source: President Barack Obama, State of the Union Speech, January 28, 2014)
13. A study finds that women under 32 now make 93% of what young men earn, aided by women’s higher rates of college completion. But the analysis of census and labor data also shows the gender pay gap will widen for women by their mid-30s, if the experience of the past three decades is a guide. That widening gap is due in part to the many women who take time off or reduce their hours to start families. Other factors cited in the report are gender stereotyping, discrimination, weaker professional networks and women’s hesitancy to aggressively push for raises and promotions, which together may account for 20% to 40% of the pay gap. (Source: Associated Press in Washington, theguardian.com, Wednesday 11 December 2013)
14. Women currently hold just 4.5% of Fortune 1000 CEO positions. (Source: Pew Research Center)
* The Pew study was based on interviews with 2,002 adults by cellphone or landline from Oct. 7-27. The Pew poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.