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According to the National Women’s Law Center, since February 2020, women have lost over 5.3 million jobs and account for 53.8% of overall pandemic-related job losses. Women have suffered the majority of pandemic-related job losses and are leaving the workforce at unprecedented rates. The US labor force participation rate for women hit a 33-year-low in January. Today, only 23% of executive roles are held by women, according to Chief, a private network focused on connecting and supporting women leaders from VP levels through C-Suites executives.
According to Mckinsey & Company’s “Women In The Workplace 2020” report, there are three major groups of women leaving the workplace:
- Working mothers who are balancing child care, house chores, and work performance. “Forty percent of mothers (and 27 percent of fathers) spend at least three hours a day more than they did pre-COVID-19 meeting household responsibilities.”
- Senior women executives who are continually feeling to work harder than their male counterparts. “54 percent consistently feel exhausted, and one in four (and one in six senior-level men) are considering leaving the workforce or dialing back their careers.”
- Black women feel they have less support in the workplace, combined with the pandemic’s high impact on the Black community. Mckinsey reported that 3 out of 4 black women are considering leaving their jobs.
This month, Chief published a survey of more than 300 women at the top of their companies across the country to determine what it will take to achieve equity in the workplace. The data shows significant changes, like corporate and government policies and increased access to mentorship, must happen to achieve equality in the workplace.
Some notable insights:
- 2040 is the average year that Chief members believe they’ll have gender parity in their workplace; however, they predict, on average, that we won’t get to parity in the Fortune 500 at the C-suite level until 2056.
- 85% believe equal pay is the most impactful path to creating a more equitable future for women, followed by more women in corporate leadership roles and more affordable childcare access.
- 43% believe having an extensive professional network is the most valuable resource for career mobility, followed by mentorship and executive coaching.
- 67% have had 0-3 mentors throughout their career, while 73% mentor 4+ mentees today, with 29% having more than ten mentees.
- 76% believe national legislation is crucial to ensuring women have an equal chance of achieving success and pay parity at work.
With these alarming statistics and the women’s workforce on the verge of regression, I had a quick chat with Chief’s co-founders – Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers.
A. CHAN: How many members does Chief currently have? What is the vision for Chief in 3-5 years?
CHIEF: Chief currently has over 4,000 senior leader members across the country, representing over 2,000 companies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC. The waitlist continues to grow, and one day we hope to welcome members across the globe. We created Chief to connect and support women in power to change the face of leadership across the world ultimately.
A. CHAN: Were the Chief members able to meet up and continue their supporting groups during the pandemic?
CHIEF: We’ve always said that Chief was a community that happened to have a space — and during the pandemic, we saw the community come together online to support one another through monumental challenges. Our peer groups continued to meet online, and members relied on encouragement, leadership advice, and caregiving support — helping each other navigate murky professional waters as they pivoted and led their teams and companies through unpredictable times. It was incredible to see how members came together remotely to build a stronger future. We hosted over 300 events and workshops in 2020 and welcomed speakers, including Mindy Kaling and Gloria Steinem.
A. CHAN: According to your survey, “57% of Chief members believe that it will take until 2056 to reach gender parity in Fortune 500 companies at the C-suite level.” 35 years from now is a shocking number. Why do you think more than half of your surveyed members feel this way? And what does gender parity in the workplace look like to you?
CHIEF: 2020 was a setback for women in the workplace. Many speculate we’ve lost decades of progress, and undoubtedly our members feel change isn’t happening fast enough. Parity in the workplace is more than an equal amount of men and women — and it starts with representation and inclusion of all people in the highest places of power.
A. CHAN: There are only 40 female CEO on the Fortune 500 list, and out of the 40, only 4 are women of color (3 are Asians and one black). By May this year, we will have 41 female CEO and one other black women CEO on the list (TIAA- Thasunda Brown Duckett). What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel these current statistics correspond to your survey?
CHIEF: We have seen this list creep forward — and sometimes backward — for years. Given the rate of change we are seeing, the survey results saying 35 years is generous. There are hundreds of qualified women, and women of color, that are more than qualified to lead these companies. Companies need to step up and do better.
A. CHAN: “Equal pay is the most important issue: 85% of Chief members ranked equal pay as the first or second most important policy to create a more equitable future for women”, throughout my career, I have hired many women and men, and I have to admit that I am drastically disappointed when women do not negotiate harder on their offers. Is this one of the topics that the Chief members discuss and guide during their Core monthly meetings?
CHIEF: Personally, I have found more women negotiate than not. But it’s likely we’re hiring people at Chief who are deeply aligned with our mission! Negotiating is a bit like asking women to lean in — demanding women do more than changing systemic behaviors that undervalue and underpay for the same roles. Furthermore, women are often penalized in the workplace for being too aggressive.
When it comes to corporate policies, some companies are making bold commitments. For example, Twitter commits to have at least 50 percent women workforce globally by 2025.
Some of the states have also begun to make new policies. In the State of Illinois, Public Act 101-0589 was signed into law on August 27, 2019, requiring publicly held companies headquartered in Illinois to report the self-identified gender and race/ethnicity of each member of its board of directors. The State of New York recently enacted a law that mandates a study of the number of women directors on boards of companies doing business in New York. The law also requires disclosure of women board directors. (from the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer – October 2020)
CHIEF felt that corporate policies should include:
Changing talent acquisition policies, advocate for diverse mentorship programs, publicly state diversity goals, and add BIPOC individuals to corporate boards. If executed with sincerity and widespread commitment from the top-down, these are steps companies can take to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce. Diversity mandates can be helpful to drive change. However, meeting diversity criteria will accomplish nothing if a company doesn’t hold itself accountable to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce.
In Sept 2020, California passed AB979, which requires public companies to have a minimum of one director from the BIPOC or LBGTQ+ representation. Tina Shah Paikeday, Head of Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Services at Russell Reynolds Associates, said,” California SB826 has definitely moved the needle on boards. For example, before California passed SB826, nearly one-third of 600 major public California corporates had no women on the board. That number quickly declined to a few dozen companies. We at Russell Reynolds are receiving many inquiries to assist with the female, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ representation on boards as a result of AB979. We are fortunate that we invested in relationships with minority talent before this regulated need appeared. Networks such as Chief, Ascend Pinnacle, Latino Corporate Directors Association, The Indus Entrepreneurs, and our very own Black Directors conference are critical social networks that help to identify talent with whom we want to continue to build relationships.”
International Women’s Day celebrates how much women have achieved in the workplace, but we have years more to reach parity. We will need intervention and commitment from companies and networking groups to support and protect the women workforce and embrace diversity. Bold changes, processes, and obligations must be in place, or what we have achieved so far with gender diversity will regress for years to come.
