for women ceos danger lurks atop the corporate ladder
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

For women CEOs, danger lurks atop the corporate ladder

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today For women CEOs, danger lurks atop the corporate ladder

In one recent 24-hour span
New York - Arab world

In one recent 24-hour span, two women were pushed out of leadership roles at major US corporations, spotlighting how investor pressure can frustrate efforts to broaden diversity in the boardroom.

Ellen Kullman, Meg Whitman, Mary Barra, Indra Nooyi, Marissa Mayer, Irene Rosenfeld, Sheri McCoy and Ursula Burns all have led large, publicly-traded companies. And Burns was the first black woman to serve as CEO of a major company.

These women led DuPont, HP, General Motors, PepsiCo, Yahoo!, Xerox, Mondelez and Avon Products, but they also all have been in the crosshairs of influential Wall Street investors, activists who succeeded in pushing Kullman, Burns, Rosenfeld and McCoy to the exit.

To save their jobs, others gave in to the critics: Whitman agreed to split HP in two, while Barra agreed to dividend payments for GM shareholders.

Do male CEOs really outperform their female counterparts or are the women simply easy targets for investors trying to throw their weight around in search of bigger returns?

- A 'significant gender effect' -

That question has taken on greater importance at a time when Silicon Valley tech companies face accusations of sexism and are under pressure to increase their racial and gender diversity.

Of the 500 corporations included in S&P's Wall Street stock index, just 27 firms, or 5.4 percent, are led by women.

"Above and beyond all other factors we might use to explain why these firms are being targeted, we found very large and significant gender effect," said Christine Shropshire, a professor of management at Arizona State University.

Shropshire studied the demands that so-called activist investors made of corporate leadership between 2003 and 2013.

Among companies with similar financial results, those that had put a woman in charge faced a disproportionate share of investor pressure, she told AFP.

"Investors perceive these women CEOs to be weaker, to be less confident, less competent, less able. And then they target their activism accordingly."

In an interview with The New York Times, former DuPont chief Kullman said the workplace becomes less fair for women as they reach the highest rungs of the corporate ladder.

"We are never taught to fight for ourselves," she said.

A 2013 study by PwC found women had a 38 percent chance of leaving the CEO position within 10 years compared to only 27 percent for men.

But in most cases the performances turned in by women CEOs surpassed the industry average.

Shares in women-led businesses have produced 25 percent annual returns since 2009 compared to only 11 percent for the MSCI World index of large and mid-cap companies, according to a study of 11,000 companies in 27 developed countries that was produced this month by Nordea Bank AB.

Activist investor Nelson Peltz has faced criticism after campaigning to remove Nooyi, Kullman and Rosenfeld through his investment firm Trian Partners.

- Peltz and women CEOs -

Trian rejects the idea that gender played any role in the firm's actions.

"To suggest that Trian targets women CEOs is tired rhetoric," a company spokesperson said, adding that female leadership in Trian's portfolio companies had actually grown.

"Furthermore, when we join boards, we are strong proponents of diversity at all levels."

Out of 28 investor campaigns launched by Trian since its creation in 2005, three have targeted women-led companies, meaning 89 percent targeted male corporate leaders, including Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, who recently stepped down.

Dan Zacchei, managing director at Sloane & Company, which advises activists and companies, said investors should take care to avoid creating an impression that women CEOs are being "targeted disproportionately."

"Having a reputation for gender discrimination could not only alienate the press and institutional investors but a fund's existing investors as well," he said

source:AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

for women ceos danger lurks atop the corporate ladder for women ceos danger lurks atop the corporate ladder

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

for women ceos danger lurks atop the corporate ladder for women ceos danger lurks atop the corporate ladder

 



GMT 13:42 2015 Saturday ,04 April

Libyan warplane targets camp in Gharyan town

GMT 15:14 2017 Wednesday ,01 March

UN documents nearly 1,500 child soldiers in Yemen

GMT 07:24 2017 Sunday ,01 October

Mexico unlikely to find more quake survivors

GMT 16:15 2015 Wednesday ,11 November

German intelligence 'spied' on Fabius, FBI, UN bodies

GMT 01:32 2017 Saturday ,15 April

Russia's Putin earns about 157,000 USD in 2016

GMT 16:30 2017 Saturday ,15 July

Minister of planning gives priority

GMT 19:45 2017 Wednesday ,05 April

President of Senegal Meets Attorney General

GMT 05:18 2017 Thursday ,21 September

Over 80 missing after migrant boat sinks off Libya

GMT 19:22 2017 Saturday ,01 April

UN: Number of Syrian Refugees Tops 5 million

GMT 15:16 2016 Thursday ,29 September

FBI to put up database on police use of deadly force

GMT 05:06 2016 Friday ,30 September

Indian markets open flat

GMT 01:57 2017 Tuesday ,10 October

Twin suicide bombs kill 13 near Mogadishu airport

GMT 02:25 2017 Friday ,08 September

UAE celebrates National Day at Expo 2017 Astana

GMT 06:19 2017 Sunday ,08 January

Bleaching poses the gravest threat to coral reefs

GMT 12:35 2017 Monday ,18 September

Elham Shahin happy for “Day for Women”

GMT 09:46 2017 Thursday ,22 June

US existing home sales unexpectedly rise in May

GMT 02:36 2017 Tuesday ,10 January

US embassy condemns Al-Arish suicide attack

GMT 10:34 2017 Sunday ,26 November

czar faces graft probe
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday