Woman’s voice still hard to find in boardrooms

Sacramento Bee
Gilbert Chan
November 19, 2006

In California’s largest companies, women’s voices are seldom heard in boardrooms. Of the state’s top 400 public companies, roughly half have only male directors. All Fortune 100 companies and about 85 percent of the Fortune 1000 companies have at least one female board member. A recent study indicates that having more women on corporate boards is beneficial. As Sumru Erkut, associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women and one of the authors of the study, explains, “Female directors can change the dynamics in the boardroom and are willing to take on gritty issues such as executive compensation.” The study also says three women constitute a critical mass on executive boards. “A token is invisible. It’s easy to be ignored,” Erkut said of the numerous boards with only one woman.
 


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