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Although more women are
attaining high level positions in the corporate world in the
United States today, too many qualified candidates continue
to bump up against the proverbial “glass ceiling” and are
not serving on boards or in top management positions, according
to Dana Friedman, President of Women on the Job (WOJ) a Long
Island advocacy group located in Port Washington.
That's the rationale behind a new project the group has undertaken.
WOJ established the Where Are the Women? project, linking
business, civic, professional and academic leaders to search
for solutions. The project focuses on raising awareness and
initiating change within the Long Island business community
by creating opportunities for increased representation of
women as corporate officers and directors.
Using a Hofstra University study they commissioned to examine
Long Island corporations, they know women occupy less than
5% of corporate board seats of the top 50 corporations on
Long Island. Contrast this to the 11% of Fortune 500 board
seats women occupy nationwide. And last year, only 23% of
Long Island’s top 100 corporations had one female director;
only two had two female directors.
Armed with these data, studies from the Harvard Business Review
and research from Catalyst, the respected organization
that has been tracking women's workplace progress since 1977,
WOJ seeks to create a gender balance in corporate decision
making that better reflects consumer lifestyles and trends
in today’s Long Island marketplace. It has assembled a prestigious
Advisory Council of corporate leaders headed by Jeffrey L.
Bass, MPA, of Margolin, Winer & Evens, LLP and an energetic
Steering Committee lead by Kathy Adams from WOJ's own board.
This is a tough task WOJ has taken on, one that all Long Islanders
should support, simply because it makes good economic sense.
Research indicates that corporations with female directors
are more profitable than those without any women on their
boards. But besides the fiscal value of rethinking gender
composition of corporate boards, it's a question of good business
ethics. Denying competent, qualified persons positions of
responsibility and leadership on the basis of gender is wrong.
That said, the task is still daunting; who said , "Right
is easy?"
For more information about the Where Are the Women?
project and its three pronged program of executive outreach,
networking opportunities and their seminar series contact:
| Where
are the Women? c/o Women on the Job 382 Main Street,
Port Washington, NY 11050 Phone (516) 883-1691
FAX (516) 883-1405 email: WOJTF@optonline.net
http://www.catalystwomen.org/home.html |
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Editors Note:
Adrienne O’Brien, a professor of Media Research
and Public Relations at the New York Institute of Technology,
is Vice President of Women On The Job. Her email
address is aobrien@optonline.net
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