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Diversity Matters
is edited by
Annette Merritt Cummings
Vice President, Diversity Services
800.438.9911
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Women’s History Month
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Diversity Matters would be remiss if we did not mention the recent passing of author and trailblazer Betty Friedan, at age 85. Her best-selling book, The Feminine Mystique... Read More > |
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A deficit for women in finance?A newly released study by executive search firm Korn/Ferry International found that nearly all of the respondents polled—executive women in finance—say they've been... |
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A Greek-American journeyBy Alex Bassil, vp Public Relations, Hodes |
Women's History Month: Betty Friedan (continued)
published back in 1963, gave voice to the notion that there were other roles for women in industrial societies, beyond that of homemaker. Many consider Mystique to have given rise to the second wave of feminism, which helped large numbers of women climb, slowly but surely, out of the typical secretarial ghettos.
Women in finance (continued)
personally affected by the “glass ceiling” in their workplace. In peering inside the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, much fewer women than men find their way to the title of chief financial officer, though the number is perceptively rising.
Lisa Yoon, a writer for CFO magazine who has reported on the progress of women CFOs extensively, says she has noticed an increase of women CFOs.
“Women in the CFO post have definitely increased steadily over the years,” says Yoon, who has also noticed in our midst, “a generation where women are heading finance at household-name companies.” Yoon cites as examples Susan Decker at Yahoo! and Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo.
Yoon adds, “I think as part of the evolutionary progress of women in finance, we will see in the next generation that for many of these women, the top finance post won’t be enough.” Yoon predicts we’ll see more women CFOs “getting promoted to CEO or seeking the chief-executive role elsewhere.”
Prudential’s Women in Finance—an affinity group
Like the majority of women in the Korn/Ferry study, Helen M. Galt, senior vice president and chief actuary for Prudential Financial, says in her personal experience, “Finance functions seem to be heavily male dominated.”
Wishing to foster the talent of women in her own company and increase their numbers, Galt now presides over Prudential’s “Women in Finance” group, which she says was formed several years ago, “to provide an additional support structure for women” working in the finance organization in Prudential Financial.
The group has grown to expand beyond the financial management departments and Galt says it has broadened its goals to include networking, mentorship, leadership development and skills-building sessions. Galt says this month, Prudential will launch an educational platform in three locations in the U.S., which will focus on teaching women how to manage two crucial areas of their lives—their money and their health.
Of her ongoing efforts to achieve parity for her sisters in financial roles, Galt says, “I believe strongly that all of women have a responsibility to encourage and support other women who have entered, or are considering entering, the financial field.”
One woman's story—A Greek-American journey
I walked the line between the two cultures in which I was raised, Greek and American. Like many second-generation Americans, I’ve spent my entire life as a hyphenated American, a Greek-American.
As the eldest child of first-generation Greek-Americans, I spoke Greek before learning English in kindergarten. I grew up in the melting pot of South Florida, learning Spanish in public school, and then Greek, afterward, in Greek School, three times a week in classroom instruction. I was raised to respect my heritage and knew well the stories of both my maternal and fraternal immigrant grandparents’ trips to America via Ellis Island.
My maternal grandmother was the eldest of nine children and the only one to leave Greece. She did so to marry my grandfather, whom she first met in Greece. He left for Miami in 1925 and she followed four years later. After they married, my grandparents never went back to Greece. They remembered the hardship faced by their families there and corresponded by snail mail, sharing the stories and photos of our lives in the United States. My Mother was born and raised in Miami, hearing only the stories about her eight aunts and uncles and their children, having never been to Greece to meet them in person. Never in her wildest dreams did she believe she would attend a family member’s wedding in Greece.
On this trip, while visiting two cities in Greece, Athens and Thessalonica, I reflected on the lives of Greek women. Greece, like most Mediterranean countries, has a traditional paternalistic family-oriented culture. At the time I was growing up, women in Greece mostly worked in the home, tending to the needs of extended family members. Conversely, as a child of the Sixties in America, I received and internalized the messages of independence, women’s rights and “doing your own thing.”
Nowadays, women’s roles in Greece have evolved. For example, although some of the women in my family back then were educated, they did not work outside the home. Flash forward to women in Greece today: My cousin, Antonia (also the bride) has a university degree in English and Dance; she teaches English and will probably take time off after having a child before returning to work. Still, some long-held traditions endure—as Greek culture dictates, the unmarried 20- and 30-something women in my family live at home with their parents and will probably not assert their independence as I did here.
I was raised in America, influenced by the media messages I received in the Sixties and Seventies—i.e., to forge my own path, support myself with a meaningful career, and purchase my own home. Whether or not I was married, it did not matter. Women in America are still finding their work-life balance in the corporate world, though there is certainly much more approval than there ever has been for women to at least try to have it all—to forge a career while building a family life. My recent time in Greece crystallized some of these facts for me. Women there have a longer road ahead before they achieve as much support for striving to accomplish both.
Alexandra Bassil is vp, manager of public relations for Bernard Hodes Group, and a frequent speaker on the significance of using public relations as part of the employer branding tools available to human resources practitioners.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Of the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, one is a woman.
- Three of 12 Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks are women
- Of the 28 members on the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board, 14 are women, including its Chair and Vice Chair
- The Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board is made up of 12 members, in addition to a President and Vice President. None are women.
- The Thrift Institutions Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board includes 10 members, in addition to a President and Vice president. None are women.
(Source: Federalreserve.gov)
Women in the Workforce—Jan 2006
(Women 16 years or older)
Total 117,617,000
Labor Force 69,276,000
Participation rate 58.9%
Employed 65,876
Unemployed 3,399,000
Unemployment rate 4.9%
Not in labor Force 48,341,000
(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Feb 3, 2006)
RELEVANT DIVERSITY SITES
Please note: each of the below links opens in a new window.
American Association of University Women
http://www.aauw.org/
American Society of Women Accountants
http://www.aswa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
American Women’s Society of Certified Public Accountants
http://www.awscpa.org/
The Association of Women in Communications
http://www.womcom.org/
MANA A National Latina Organization
http://www.hermana.org/
American Association of Business Women
http://www.abwa.org/
Association of Women Professionals
http://www.awoman.org/
Association of Women in Finance
http://www.womeninfinance.ca/home.htm
Asian Women in Business
http://www.awib.org/awib.html
Business and Professional Women
http://www.bpwusa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
Catalyst
http://www.catalystwomen.org/
National Association of Female Executives (NAFE)
http://www.nafe.com/
Ivillage
http://www.ivillage.com/
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