How to Create a Pipeline For More Women Business Leaders

Reuters
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Giving Compass’ Take:

•  Fiona Dawson discusses ways that business managers can create more opportunities for women industry leaders — it starts by having a conversation.

• This isn’t just an issue for the corporate world. Nonprofits and foundations should take a look at the advice Dawson gives, including fostering a more flexible working environment.

• Learn why the world is better off with more women business leaders.

Women occupy just 15 percent of board seats worldwide. In the US, women account for just five percent of all CEOs among S&P 500 companies. In the UK the situation is worse: in 2016 there were more male CEOs named David (eight) than women CEOs (six) in the FTSE 100.

These figures make for uncomfortable reading for men and women alike, but we have two choices in the face of this harsh reality — we can either feel discouraged by the lack of progress and downbeat about the prospects for women in the workplace. Or, we can allow this data to fuel women’s rise to the top and help drive the change that is needed at the higher echelons of business …

Mars partnered with the UK Women’s Business Council last year to create “The Pipeline Effect,” a toolkit for enabling gender parity beyond middle management. We identified three key obstacles to women’s progress:

  • A lack of role models
  • The need for more dynamic and flexible working
  • A lack of good line management

As managers, we need to ensure we are having authentic conversations with women about what’s important to them, both in their career and in their home life. Only then can we start to unlock individual routes to success and work out tailored career paths and opportunities. Good managers make it a personal responsibility to have authentic conversations.

Read the full article on how to create a pipeline for more women business leaders by Fiona Dawson at Reuters.

If you are looking for more articles and resources for Women and Girls, take a look at these Giving Compass selections related to impact giving and Women and Girls.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Microfinance as a Feminist Strategy

    With every day in America bringing news of regressive political changes that will negatively impact women, it’s important for those who want to increase gender equality to explore different strategies for reaching women who need resources. One strategy that recently caught my eye was Grameen America’s announcement that, in celebration of its 10-year anniversary in the U.S., it would enter the fray of impact investing and disburse an added $11 million in capital in microloans to low-income women across the country. With this new fund, over a five-year period, Grameen will make $140 million in loans to low-income women who are struggling to get a foothold in the U.S. economy as entrepreneurs. In the wake of the Great Recession of 2008, many low-income women have been essentially locked out of the market for affordable financial products. These women are often excluded from traditional bank loans because of low or no credit, or they are gouged with usurious interest rates by predatory lenders. Microfinance, the loaning of small amounts (under $50,000) to borrowers with low or no credit, offers a nonprofit solution to this problem. Grameen America is the fastest growing microfinance organization in the U.S., and its model of lending to low-income women can have profound impacts on individual lives. But ultimately, the growing popularity of microfinance in America may be another indicator of the increasingly unstable financial picture for many American families, who can’t get credit, and are patching together an income between part-time jobs, personal enterprises, and small loans. Read the full article about growing women's financial power by Kiersten Marek at Philanthropy Women.

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