ShareThisWomen are making "no progress" cracking the executive glass ceiling in California, according to a just-released study by the University of California, Davis.
The fifth annual "California Women Business Leaders" study concludes that progress for women at the 400 largest public companies headquartered in the state is little improved since the first survey in 2005.
The report's introduction makes this blunt summation: "There has been no progress since our last census."
"Our findings paint a disappointing picture," said Steven Currall, dean of UCD's Graduate School of Management. "There is only one woman for every nine men in the executive suites and boardrooms of these high-profile companies.
"When we released our study each of the past four years, it was met with intense interest by the business community, state legislators and policymakers, and garnered widespread media coverage. Yet little has changed in the gender diversity of the upper echelons of decision-makers at the largest public companies in California."
Among the key findings in this year's study:
-- Women hold just 10.6 percent of board seats and executive positions, down from 10.9 percent in 2008. Little has changed from 2005, when the figure was 10.2 percent.
-- Nearly a third of the companies studied, 118 out of 400, have no women directors on their boards and no female executive officers. No company in the top 400 was without men in top management positions.
-- Fifteen of the 400 companies have a woman serving as chief executive officer, up from 13 in 2008.
Currall said the statistics "highlight the need for greater participation of women on corporate boards and in the executive suites, and to help create these opportunities."
Currall said the business school is working with the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives to change the status quo. The Palo Alto-based nonprofit, a partner in the UCD study, networks female entrepreneurs and has several programs to promote their advancement in companies.
"Quite simply, the business world is in dire need of more connected, empowered and effective women leaders," said Wendy Beecham, CEO of FWE&E.
Beecham and Currall pointed to national studies indicating that the presence of women in top corporate positions dovetails with strong company performance.
Currall said that makes a strong case for more women in positions of corporate power: "Our aim is to enhance diversity at the top of the corporate hierarchy."
"The results show that we have a lot more work to do," said Jacqueline Jaszka, a UCD MBA student who worked on the study. She said the annual survey was a factor in her decision to apply to the UCD business school.
The overwhelming majority of California's largest companies are concentrated in the Bay Area (52 percent) and Southern California (43.8 percent).
Among all firms, this year's study says companies in the consumer-products industry have the highest percentage of female directors, nearly 20 percent.
Conversely, the study says, "High-tech industries continue to trail far behind, with 74 percent of the telecommunications industry and 69 percent of the semiconductor industry having all-male boards."
While noting "a bleak picture of the progress of women in corporate leadership," the study did find some signs of progress: Its top 25 companies have more than 25 percent women on their boards and executive teams, and 10 of the 25 are run by a female CEO.
Companies topping this year's list for gender equity in the executive ranks have ranked high in past UCD studies.
At the top of the list is the San Francisco-based cosmetics firm Bare Escentuals Inc., with women constituting 50 percent of company directors and executives.
Rounding out the top five were Los Angeles-based community and business lender Nara Bancorp Inc. (46.7 percent), Palo Alto-based biopharmaceutical company Affymax Inc. (45 percent), women's apparel chain Bebe Stores Inc. in Brisbane (42.9 percent) and San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. (37.5 percent).
(Contact Mark Glover at mglover(at)sacbee.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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