Apr 4, 2017 | Corporate, Economic Security, Leadership, State Initiatives, Talent Management, Vermont, Wage Gap, Work, Workplace Diversity
This is the fourth in a series of reports published by Change The Story on topics related to women’s economic status. This report focuses specifically on women’s leadership in political, civic, and professional spheres, and the way in which leadership is related to economic security. We focused on leadership roles that can be identified and counted, including elected or appointed public servants at the state and municipal levels, leaders of critical community institutions, and leaders of organizations in the private and non-profit sectors. That said, it is important that we acknowledge the myriad other ways in which Vermont women and men serve as leaders, many of them unrecognized by traditional measures but nonetheless critically important. Most of the data in this report is either new or not regularly collected or published. All of it is specific to Vermont and is vitally important – not just in terms of what it reflects about women, but because of its implications for the state as a whole.
Download the full report.
Download the companion slide deck.
Among our findings:
- By some measures Vermont is a national pacesetter in its share of women in public leadership.
- Women are 39.4% of those serving in Vermont’s General Assembly, 60% of the state’s Supreme Court Justices, 43% of Executive Cabinet members and 50% of its public university and college presidents.
- However, Vermont’s progress in achieving gender parity in leadership arenas has been uneven, slow-going or in some cases nonexistent.
- Just one of Vermont’s six statewide officials is a woman, trailing the national average by 7 percentage points. Indeed, of the 296 individuals ever elected to statewide office, only 11 have been women.
- Vermont and Mississippi are the only two states that have never sent a woman to Congress.
- While women’s participation in Vermont’s General Assembly is the second highest in the country, the pace of change has essentially leveled off since 1993; in 24 years, women’s share of legislative seats has increased by just four percentage points.
- When only 8% of Vermont’s highest grossing companies and 3 of its 15 hospitals are led by women, we can be certain that we are not making full use of all our state’s talent.
Apr 2, 2017 | Data, Leadership, Talent Management
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”http://changethestoryvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/4-Things-You-Can-Do_9-Data-Points.pdf” title=”Read the full article.” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the full article.[/x_button]
By: FORTUNE Knowledge Group
Transforming the C-suite: Developing and Advancing Women Leaders
This study examines gender parity in senior corporate leadership positions and provides six concrete recommendations for advancing gender diversity in the workplace.
“It is broadly acknowledged that diversity improves financial performance and a majority of organizations have a formal gender diversity initiative in place, the data shows that the number of women in senior leadership positions is still significantly low, with only 4.2% of women holding CEO positions in America’s 500 biggest companies. A study by Grant Thornton reveals that globally, women hold an average of just 21% of senior management roles and only 9% of CEO jobs.
What Did We Discover?
Research for this study included a survey to 1,000 senior leaders globally, qualitative interviews with senior female executives and a ranking of all FORTUNE 500 companies based on their level of gender diversity in leadership. Based on these findings, the report outlines six suggested strategies to improve gender diversity in your organization.”
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”http://changethestoryvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/4-Things-You-Can-Do_9-Data-Points.pdf” title=”Read the full article.” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the full article.[/x_button]
Mar 14, 2017 | Data, Leadership, Vermont
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”http://changethestoryvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/4-Things-You-Can-Do_9-Data-Points.pdf” title=”Download 4 Things You Can Do + 9 Data Points to Collect” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Download 4 Things You Can Do + 9 Data Points to Collect[/x_button]
4 Things You Can Do:
1. Prioritize gender balance on state boards and commissions, ad hoc committees and study groups.
- Eight states (three of them located in the Northeast) have chosen to prioritize gender balance on state boards and commissions through legislation.
2. Recognize and promote women business owners as critical players in advancing state economic growth.
- Modify VT incorporation forms and software to indicate whether a business is woman- or minority-owned.
- Require tracking and reporting on the number of state contracts awarded to women- and minority-owned businesses.
- Establish state contracting goals for women- and minority-owned businesses.
3. Prioritize increasing the gender balance in high-growth, high-wage fields.
4. Collect and/or improve baseline data specific to women and use it to inform state policy.
9 Data Points to Collect:
- Median Annual Income, full-time workers, male/female
- Median Annual Income, full-time workers vs. Basic Needs Budget,male/female
- Median Annual Income, persons over 65, male/female
- Gender ratio, full-time, low wage workers, male/female
- Gender ratio, full-time workers in top 15 high-wage, high-growth fields(as identified by the VDOL and McClure Foundation’s Pathways report)
- #, % males, females enrolled/completed state apprenticeship programs, by field
- #, % males, females enrolled in state- or federally-funded vocational training programs, by field
- #, % males, females enrolled/completed high school technical education programs, by program
- #, % males, females earning post-secondary degrees in engineering and computer science at Vermont colleges and the University of Vermont
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”http://changethestoryvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/4-Things-You-Can-Do_9-Data-Points.pdf” title=”Download 4 Things You Can Do + 9 Data Points to Collect” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Download 4 Things You Can Do + 9 Data Points to Collect[/x_button]
Jan 30, 2017 | Leadership, Vermont
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://www.marlboro.edu/community/cnl/wlc” title=”Learn more about Women’s Leadership Circles of Vermont” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Learn more about Women’s Leadership Circles of Vermont[/x_button]
Jan 12, 2017 | Leadership, Vermont
Sneak Preview of CTS’ 4th report: Vermont Women in Leadership
Almost exactly a year ago, Change The Story VT released “Women, Work, and Wages in Vermont,” the first in a series of reports on the economic status of women. In March 2017, Change The Story will release a fourth report focused on Vermont women in leadership in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The report examines women’s presence as leaders in higher education, public safety, on corporate boards and in senior management, and on state and municipal boards and commissions.
Here is a sneak peek at a few 2016 statistics related to gender parity in the public sphere.
- Vermont ranks #1 in the country in the proportion of women serving as state legislators.
- However, just one woman currently holds statewide elective office. Indeed, of the 294 citizens elected to hold statewide office since 1778, just 11 have been women.
- Vermont and Mississippi are the only states that have never sent a woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.
- And, while women are a full 90% of municipal clerks, they are just 34% of Vermont’s 94 municipal Managers and Administrators.
- Just 1 of Vermont’s eight mayors is a woman.
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”http://changethestoryvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CTS-Sneak-Preview-2017_1.10c.pdf” title=”Check out the full preview!” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Check out the full preview![/x_button]
Dec 15, 2016 | Corporate, Leadership, Role of Men
Source: Harvard Business Review, Dec. 7, 2016
By Anna Marie Valerio and Katina Sawyer
“While women make up 51.5% of all managers, much fewer women rise to the C-suite. A survey of 25,000 Harvard Business School graduates found that although male and female graduates had similar levels of ambition, men were significantly more likely to have positions in senior management, direct reports, and profit-and-loss responsibility.
We know having a sponsor who supports your career can help level the playing field for women. So who are the men in your organization known as informal champions of women, for the way that their behaviors advance female leaders? And what do they have in common?
From previous research, we already know that these “male champions” genuinely believe in fairness, gender equity, and the development of talent in their organizations, and that they are easily identified by female leaders for the critical role they play advancing women’s careers.
But we wanted to know more about what these men do differently. How do they stand up to pressure from peers or the expectations of outmoded organizational cultures? How do they use their power to create diverse, inclusive organizations?
We asked senior male and female leaders in Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations to tell us about the behaviors of these “male champions.” We conducted 75 semi-structured confidential interviews with leaders in the C-suite or one to three levels below C-suite in both Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations. After subjecting these interviews to a rigorous qualitative analysis, we saw several themes emerge.
Generally, we saw that “male champions” have learned that gender inclusiveness means involving both men and women in advancing women’s leadership. Although many organizations have attempted to fight gender bias by focusing on women – offering training programs or networking groups specifically for them — the leaders we interviewed realized that any solutions that involve only 50% of the human population are likely to have limited success.”
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://hbr.org/2016/12/the-men-who-mentor-women” title=”Read the full article.” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the full article.[/x_button]
