Women Are a Hot Topic, But It’s Access to Capital That Counts
It’s surprising given women’s dismal holdings of positions of leadership and global wealth- but empowering women is very hot right now. It’s wonderful to see. At conferences, corporate and NGO presentations, and media sessions I frequent, leaders stress their organizations’ commitment to improving the global situation of women and girls. I usually experience three common themes in these discussions.
Theme One: Teach a Woman to Fish, Save the World
This argument is a given among leaders now: empowering women and girls globally is crucial to global security, ending violence, and lifting countries out of poverty. This year, almost 32% of the commitments from public and private entities at the Clinton Global Initiative directly impacted women and girls through classroom education, health education, micro finance and other teaching tactics. It’s crucial, lifesaving work.
CGI is a public private partnership, but the heavy lifting in creating such programs has been done by NGOs, governments and other charitable entities, according to Dr. Isobel Coleman from the Council on Foreign Relations. She says if you add up all the money spent on women by NGOs and other non-profit organizations it’s somewhere under $5 billion dollars. This is significant money but pales compared to the estimated $1 trillion alone of investment capital wanting to invest in socially responsible business. Dr. Coleman notes, it is crucial to enlist the private sector in this empowerment to really make change.
At CGI, Andrew Kassoy, Co-founder, B Lab said there are 60-70 million consumers who WANT to buy from good companies. And many companies, whether explicitly socially responsible in their charter or not, have the intention to have a positive impact on society. But it’s tough to make money and it’s hard for socially responsible businesses to scale. Many explicitly pro-women businesses are in this spot.
Theme Two: Women are Power Consumers, Hence They Have Power
Nearly every US-focused public conversation will touch on women’s sheer might as consumers of goods and services. Organizations usually seize women’s purchasing power as proof of the strength of women’s voices in the marketplace. I’m not sure this translates. And frankly, if I hear this statistic again, I’m going to scream: women drive 85% of household purchases. Women are the “Chief Household Officers.” Women are the power consumers…you know the story.
This information is accurate, valuable and hey, I make my living largely from it. But it’s not enough to change the balance of power and improve the global plight of women. I’ve written before how the single-minded emphasis on women’s role as power consumer is the new Feminine Mystique. I don’t see much evidence that women’s predominance as consumers of packaged goods, etc. translates into our larger power.
Theme Three: If Things Are Really Going to Change, Women Need More Access to Capital
Empowering women as producers of economic wealth is the hardest part of the equation to solve. There is incredible work being done globally and in the US in the micro-finance sector, but women need access to capital beyond the micro scale. There are two examples I want to highlight below of how this can be done at scale.
Wal-Mart’s recent commitment to empower women is an example of bringing socially responsible business to scale but also of an organization committing to tackle the hardest question behind women’s lack of global equity.
In a strong new women’s empowerment initiative, Wal-Mart has taken the lead doubling sourcing from women suppliers, source $20 billion from women owned businesses. They promise to track and measure their actual spending with women suppliers worldwide and hold themselves accountable. This includes large and small batch producers of goods and services.
Wal-Mart also pledges to work with more women professional services providers, such as lawyers, ad agencies, accountants and technology firms. Yes, Wal-Mart has a tough record when it comes to championing women in the workplace. But ultimately, it’s empowering women as key producers in the multi-billion dollar Wal-Mart supply chain. The vision, according to Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs Leslie Dach, is to bring about a “global marketplace where women’s contributions are really and truly valued…Helping women live better will make Wal-Mart a stronger business.”
It’s not micro, and while it’s a PR campaign, there are real numbers behind it.
And yes, in a press conference to announce the initiative, he noted women are the majority of Wal-Mart shoppers. But I’ll forgive him that one.
Second, there’s great energy afoot to increase the number of women on corporate boards of directors. The average Fortune 500 company board is only 16% women. This means corporate decisions that affect us in the US and all over the world are 84% made by men. Doesn’t that figure put the “82% of purchases are made by women” figure into a stark new light?
At a launch for the new non-profit organization 2020Women on Boards, both MA State Treasurer Steve Grossman and CEO of PAX Worldwide Joe Keefe, who runs a mutual fund featuring only companies that invest in gender equality, drummed home this simple and powerful point: women hold more power than we think. Not only are many women individual investors in mutual funds, but our pension funds, unions and employers are among the largest holders of company shares. Every year, we are sent proxy forms and we usually throw them out or check the boxes suggested. But these boxes approve Boards of Directors, and we can use our proxy votes to change things; we need to read them, and scout them for gender diversity. There are also several new databases that host the information of thousands of qualified women Board candidates. This is a powerful way to change the ratio and get more women on Boards.
Because it’s all about numbers, and all about scale.
Disclosure: I did consulting work for Wal-Mart at a past job in 2005.
BlogHer for the Socially Anxious
Tomorrow, like literally thousands of other women, I will head to the annual BlogHer Conference in San Diego. I’ve been to almost every single BlogHer gathering, I’ve spoken at them and worked at them too, but I always approach the Conference with fear and dread as well as excitement.
I thought, “you can’t be the only one,” so I decided to write a quick piece for my sisters in anxiety out there. You see, BlogHer is a little like high school. And if for some reason you were not popular in high school, or you were angsty, or you didn’t have people to sit with at lunch or didn’t get invited to cool parties, you might have flashbacks at BlogHer Con. I went to girls high school, and it was vicious at times. Whenever I walk into a room full of women I’ll have a bout of social anxiety. Do they like me? Am I awkward and not worth knowing?
It’s not BlogHer’s fault. The three founders are the most wonderful, down to earth women you’ll ever meet. The women I know from my blogging community are my true friends, my role models and mentors, my colleagues and even my clients. BlogHer has enriched my life in ways I never thought would be possible.
But get any posse of women together (let alone several thousand) and dynamics will ensue. Not to mention that many attendees are selling themselves, making connections, working it hard…and it can get intimidating. Every party you’re not invited to, every elite piece of swag you don’t get, every person who doesn’t know your name. You will meet people more famous/rich/full of Twitter followers than you. It wears on a person, even an adult with a wonderful life back home.
So here is my guide if events like this make you anxious. Every time you feel a twinge, say to yourself:
I’m just here to learn. If I have fun and meet people while I’m here, that’s great. But this is just a learning experience. I’m going to observe, and that’s all. I’m along for the ride.
I try to let go of whatever agenda I had…because if you hang out and observe at BlogHer, you never know where you’ll end up.
If this isn’t enough, think of all the people who love you back home. Think how wonderful it is to be an adult, to make your own rules and your own friends and not care if people like you all the time.
Then, have a glass of wine, smile, and open yourself to the experience.
See you there!
Leapfrog jobs and presidential politics
This morning, a very talented young woman asked me for advice. Should she go work on the Obama campaign, or find a job that will be less stressful, more inclusive and more aligned with her immediate goals (not to mention better paying)? I didn’t hesitate before suggesting she work for Obama. And not because I’m such a huge Obama fan.
No. Because for a talented young woman, a place at HQ of a presidential campaign will pay dividends for the rest of her life. The truth is, there are some jobs you can take when you’re young that act just like getting an MBA from Stanford or a law degree from Harvard. When you leave them, they allow you to leapfrog several years ahead of your rightful place on the career ladder. Working at Google or Apple is one of these jobs. In my world, it’s working on a political campaign or in an Administration in a staff role.
The recent article on Sheryl Sandberg in the New Yorker highlighted her incredible smarts, drive and people skills. But I also found noteworthy how Sandberg got herself into a leapfrog job (U.S Treasury) at a young age. There, she had the sponsorship of Larry Summers and got experience and exposure well beyond her qualifications. Only from Treasury was she able to jump to Google, Facebook and the stratosphere.
So if you’re young and you have an opportunity to work on a major political race or in an Administration, do it, even though it will be exhausting, full of landmines and extremely aggressive people who’d kick you aside in a second to get ahead.
Women Out In Front
Being at a tech conference that was 50% women speakers felt different. When the women get up on stage and talk about concepts I don’t understand, I know things are shifting. At Personal Democracy Forum 2011 (PDF) in New York City the ratio of female to male speakers was 47% to 53%. PDF is a forum where activists, intellectuals and policymakers from all over the world gather to explore the digital age’s impact on governance and society.
The parade of thinkers, revolutionaries and world-crafters was as diverse as those who are leading change. And honestly, I believe it was women’s role in the uprisings in the Middle East this spring that inspired such diversity at this year’s conference in lower Manhattan. This doesn’t mean to sugarcoat the events or outcomes in the Middle East, but to acknowledge the very true public role of women there.
Because the medium is the message, we need to always look critically at who is up on the big stage driving discussion at major conferences. It’s who you see who sets the agenda, and if you have worked in the technology or media space for some time, you know that a constant refrain from producers is, “I wanted to invite more women, but I just couldn’t find them.”
Even the inimitable Kara Swisher just wrote “about how all the often touchy-feely men entrepreneurs of the hottest Web 2.0 companies ha[ve] a glaring problem. While most of them have women as a majority of their customers, they could not seem to find even one qualified woman for any of their boards. This makes it a struggle even in programming our D: All Things Digital conferences. We have featured almost every significant female tech exec we could.”
At the PDF Conference, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was the most senior U.S. elected official to speak. Senator Gillibrand spoke to the crowd about her commitment to using the Internet to make politicians (including herself) more accountable to voters. Amid other speakers’ vivid snapshots of the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, Senator Gillibrand referred to the drive for more transparency in the U.S. Congress as “a quiet touch of revolution.” For example, Gillibrand will publish her Federal Election Commission campaign finance disclosures online, in easily searchable electronic format. She also put all her earmark requests online so voters can see what money she is requesting.
Gillibrand drew praise from the Sunlight Foundation’s Ellen Miller for voluntary disclosures she makes already, including her schedule of official meetings, voting record, and federal funding requests.
New York’s Junior Senator also touched on the issue of accessibility. She said we need to make sure all Americans have access to the internet, and she is working on increasing funding for rural broadband access.
Gillibrand is 44, not quite a Digital Native but of the generation that recognizes digital issues are paramount to American competitiveness and that Internet facility and access are key. It’s a far cry from a highlight of the conference in 2008, when digital strategist Tracy Russo asked of then presidential-candidate John McCain “how can a person who doesn’t know how to operate a computer be the kind of leader we need to move us forward and fulfill the potential all of our tomorrows hold?”
Three years later, in the aftermath of the economic collapse, the revolutions in the Middle East and social media’s role in each, I can’t imagine a viable U.S. leader admitting, as McCain did, that he doesn’t “really do computers” (insert Anthony Weiner comparison here).
Keep reading at BlogHer.com
Fear Means Go
I’m always encouraging my two year old to try new things…and he loves to say, “try try.” I don’t always take this advice myself. I have some social anxiety. But when I’m nervous about a big meeting or cocktail party I have to tackle on my own, I’ll harken back to this wonderful story from Ellen Galinsky.
“Fear Means Go” is the mantra of Ellen and her daughter, Lara Galinsky. It’s a way we can practice taking on challenges, an essential part of life whether you’re 2 or 40.
Cross-posted from the Harvard Business Review blog:
When Deb Dagit walked in to make her first presentation to the Merck Board of Directors, she knew what she was going to say. She was speaking to the Board about the importance of making a commitment to having a diverse workforce and to creating a workplace culture where differences among people are seen as a business advantage. One look at the serious faces of the members of the Board, though, began to erode her confidence. It wasn’t until Dr. Johnnetta Cole, then President of Spelman College and a member of Merck’s board, approached her that her confidence returned. Dagit says:
I had never met her before but she came over to me, gave me a hug, and said, “We are going to have a wonderful conversation.” All the time, I was talking to the Board, I just kept looking at her and I got through it.
Dagit, now the Chief Diversity Officer at Merck, told this story in the context of a business seminar I was conducting on how the skills that help children thrive (skills I identified in a review of the research for my book Mind in the Making) are the very same skills that help adults become more effective at work. The skill we were talking about was taking on challenges.Adults, like children, look to the faces of others in uncertain or new situations to assess the situation and to figure out how to proceed. This tendency has a name in the research literature–it’s called “social referencing,”
Anne Weisberg, Director in Talent at Deloitte and a speaker at the business seminar, makes the point we are increasingly faced with uncertain paths to navigate in our everyday jobs as our world changes at breakneck speed and as knowledge multiplies exponentially. She says that we are going to have to try new things if we are going to adapt and thrive. Here are some suggestions from the speakers at this business seminar on how they have learned to see making mistakes as a part of taking on challenges.
About Me
Morra Aarons-Mele utilizes social media strategies to help employers, employees and communities connect. She also consults with leading organizations on how women can use the internet for professional and personal development. In her spare time, Morra enjoys blogging about women and politics. Read her full bio >>
Recent Posts
- Women Are a Hot Topic, But It’s Access to Capital That Counts
- BlogHer for the Socially Anxious
- Leapfrog jobs and presidential politics
- Women Out In Front
- Fear Means Go