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Former President of Chile
Michelle Bachelet and
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
Summit President Irene
Natividad presents Award
to President Bachelet at 2009 Global Summit of
Women
Source:
www.globewomen.com
COUNTRIES WITH QUOTAS FOR
PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANIES
Norway (2003)
Spain (2007)
Iceland (2010)
France (2010 pending)
Netherlands (2010 pending)
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I. FORMER CHILEAN PRESIDENT BACHELET TO
HEAD UP NEW U.N. AGENCY FOR WOMEN
The
first woman to serve as President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, is
now the first to head up United
Nations Women,
the new U.N. entity formed to consolidate four U.N. agencies –
UNIFEM (UN Development Fund for Women), INSTRAW (International
Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women), DAW
(Division for the Advancement of Women), and OSAGI (Office of the
Special Advisor for Gender Issues). With a budget of $500 million –
double the prior budgets of all four agencies – UN Women will
provide oversight of all programs to promote women’s rights within
this international body.
With her new rank
of Under Secretary-General, Ms. Bachelet’s appointment was applauded
widely by women advocates within and outside the United Nations. As
President of Chile, Ms. Bachelet had a successful tenure as she led
the country out of a recession and a major earthquake, while at the
same time prioritizing women’s issues. She pushed for legislation
ensuring equal pay, pension for homemakers, increased number of
child care centers, among others. This commitment to advancing women
earned her the 2009
Global Women’s
Leadership Award
from the Global Summit of Women. A recent survey in Chile showed her
to be the most popular politician in Chile, and equally important,
identified as the best president in Chile’s history.
Expectations are high that women’s
issues will now have the prominence it deserves in all UN policies
and programs, given the stature of the new agency and a global
‘star’ for its first leader. In announcing her appointment,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated: "Ms. Bachelet brings to this
critical position a history of dynamic global leadership, highly
honed political skills and uncommon ability to create consensus and
focus among UN agencies and many partners in both the public and
private sector.” (Source: ipsnews.net, 9/20/10).
II. AUSTRALIAN
PRIME MINISTER WINS HER POST
Julia Gillard, who became Australia’s first woman
Prime Minister last June after she toppled the leader of her
party, managed to retain her post by persuading
two independent
members of Parliament and Green party members to join her in forming
the country’s first minority coalition government in 67 years.
Ms. Gillard came to power when she
replaced former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor
Party. She then called elections in August, holding on to power
after negotiations with other MPs that enabled her to form a
government. A former Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Gillard has also
served as Minister of Education and has been a Member of Parliament
since 1998.
In a move that
surprised many, she appointed Kevin Rudd, the man she ousted as
Labor Party leader, as Australia’s new Foreign Minister. She is
expected to serve a full three-year term, and she has promised a
stable government, despite her slim majority. (Source, Associated
Press, 9/7/10). For a complete listing of women heads of state to
date, log on to www.globewomen.com
III. U.S. WOMEN LEAVING IT JOBS
A study by the National Center for Women and
Information Technology reports a high rate of departure by American
women from jobs in information technology. “Fifty-six percent of
women in technology companies leave their organizations at the
mid-level point, 10-20 years in their careers.” states Catherine
Ashcraft, the study’s author. Those who leave, however, continue to
use their technology skills, either starting their own companies, or
finding positions in government or nonprofits.
After 15 years, women’s pay is 11
percent less than men with comparable experience. According to the
report, 25 percent of all professional IT-related jobs were held by
women in 2008, down from 36 percent in 1991. Women leave for a
variety of reasons – more subtle sexism, assignment to high-risk
projects with no support, stigma from using flextime that appear to
give women with families ‘special treatment’.
The report recommends the expansion
and support of mentoring that can prevent the feeling of isolation
and dispel unintentional or deliberate roadblocks to promotions. The
right mentor can mean that women won't necessarily have one foot out
the door and instead find greater job satisfaction. (Source: Women’s
News, 6/25/10)
IV. NUMBER OF WOMEN
CORPORATE DIRECTORS GROWING THROUGH LEGISLATION AND REGULATION
Actions to increase the
number of women on corporate boards — whether through legislation or
corporate governance commission recommendations — are beginning to
show that real change is occurring. In Australia, where the
percentage of women directors languished around 8% for the past
decade, 2010 has brought a significant increase of women directors
reaching 10% on September 1,according to the Australian Institute of
Company Directors. So far in 2010, 36 women have been appointed to
the boards of the top 200 companies on the Australian Stock Exchange
— a substantial increase from 2009, when only ten women were
appointed for the entire year. The increase is attributed to new
recommendations issued by the Australian Stock Exchange which enter
into effect on January 1, 2011, requiring listed companies to
disclose the proportion of women on boards and in senior management
and to provide progress reports on gender objectives.
In another example of companies
getting ahead of anticipated legal or regulatory changes, the
percentage of women on boards of French companies has surged to
14.4%. The French General Assembly passed a quota bill in January
2010 requiring companies to have at least 20% women directors within
three years and 40% within six years. The bill is awaiting a vote in
the Senate and is expected to pass. When discussions on the quota
legislation began in France in 2008, the percentage of directors of
France’s blue-chip index (CAC40) companies was 6.4%. Just two years
later the percentage has increased by nearly 8%.
These are just two of the
initiatives discussed in detail in the upcoming report by the
Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) in partnership with
the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. A draft of
the report, “Accelerating Board Diversity,” was presented at the
2010 Global Summit of Women in Beijing and the full report will be
released in November at the 2nd Global Roundtable on Board Diversity
at the World Bank. Additionally, President of the Global Summit of
Women and Chair of CWDI Irene Natividad will be presenting on the
topic at a hearing on October 27 organized by the European
Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality on the
subject of Women and Business leadership.
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