News For You - November 2001

We have developed this page to give our visitors the opportunity to see what's new, at a glance, in the business world and how it relates to our program. Take a moment to browse and see what's of interest to you!

Road to the Top

Anne M. Mulcahy began her reign as Chief Executive Officer of the Xerox Corporation in August. Ms. Mulcahy, 48, has been employed at Xerox for 25 years holding positions in sales, marketing, human resources, the small-office business department and most recently as chief operating officer. Many people feel that Mulcahy’s experience with the Xerox Corporation is beneficial because she is familiar with the company and therefore “understands how to create change within the culture.”

A few months earlier, Xerox was fighting rumors of bankruptcy, but now the company has sold assets, paid down debt and rid themselves of money-losing business. Mulcahy was a key player in getting Xerox back in the game and her efforts were recognized in her promotion. Mulcahy’s other accomplishments and contributions to Xerox include leading the company into new business segments, such as the Tektronix acquisition which has turned out to be one of Xerox’s most profitable units, and guiding Xerox away from failing markets, like those in Latin America.

With Ms. Mulcahy’s appointment, the number of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies increases to five. This is the first time that women have made up 1 percent of the Fortune 500 CEOs.

(Source: The New York Times, July 27, 2001).
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Make Way for the Female Business Traveler

Hotels all over the world are beginning to focus their amenities to satisfy the female business traveler. A survey conducted by New York University found that 40% of U.S. business travelers in 1999 were female and the American Express Company estimates that women may soon account for 50% of the world’s travelers. Hotels, especially those abroad, are taking action due to this rising number of female business travelers and have implemented special services for female guests.

Hotels exclusively for women are also emerging globally. London, Berlin and Florence are just 3 cities that have these specialty lodgings which cater only to the female business traveler. Women-only hotels, like the Lady’s First Hotel in Zurich, include in-house amenities such as health food, gyms, spas and wellness centers which are all services businesswomen rated as important.

Some people see these female-only hotels as a step backward because they segregate women. However, the hotels feel they provide women with an atmosphere where they can feel safe while traveling and avoid dealing with the stigma attached to a woman traveling alone.

(Source: The Wall Street Journal Europe, July 6, 2001).
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Forum Helps Women Become Entrepreneurs

Denise Brosseau is helping women realize their dreams of becoming business owners. In 1998, the 41-year-old Brosseau founded the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, a non-profit service that helps aspiring business owners. To support the Forum, Brosseau has garnered sponsorship from companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Goldman Sachs and Stanford University. With the money from its sponsors and the dues paid by the 1,300 members, the Forum has expanded operations from Silicon Valley to Denver, Seattle, Dallas and Los Angeles.

The programs run by the Forum “train aspiring business creators in the basics of getting an enterprise rolling – and, most important, on how to round up the cash to fund their dreams.” In the three years of the Forum’s existence, Brosseau has helped 100 women raise capital resulting in $1 billion dollars. Not only does the Forum provide valuable information to its members, but mentoring is also an important service. Kathryn Huber, a successful entrepreneur and member of the Forum, describes what she has received from the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. Huber says, “It’s a tremendous network, an incredible support system, an exchange for ideas and knowledge from women who are fundraising and running companies. They are not only great role models and mentors, but a true source of wisdom.”

(Source: Forbes, July 9, 2001).
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Wall Street Women Disheartened

In late July 2001, Catalyst released a survey conducted with hundreds of junior and senior level men and women working on Wall Street. The survey represents the “first extensive look at the experiences of women” working on the infamous financial strip. Survey results revealed that women have a great deal of difficulty achieving success in the financial industry. Most women would agree with Alexandra Lebenthal, president of a Wall Street firm, who says, “It’s extremely disheartening to see how far we have not come.”

According to the survey, women working on Wall Street face adversity at every turn. First and foremost, Wall Street has been a traditionally male dominated field where females have only recently emerged. Making headway into this territory has caused women to drastically alter their lives. The Catalyst survey “suggests that many women are making significant sacrifices in their personal lives,” more so than men. For instance, only half the women surveyed have children, while three-quarters of the men surveyed have a family.

Other difficulties cited by the women surveyed include the lack of female role models and mentors to help with the advancement their own careers as well as promotional decisions conducted with bias. Also, many of the women “cited as a barrier to their moving up exclusion from important networks.” Without these channels to help climb the corporate ladder, women are missing opportunities at high level positions. With all these barriers for women, two thirds said that they have to “work harder than men for the same rewards.”

(Source: The New York Times, July 26, 2001).
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Women Dominate PR

Public Relations is one of the few industries in which women have established themselves and flourished. Today, 70 percent of those working in PR are women and 80 percent of college Public Relations students are female. Harold Burson, chairman of the firm Burson-Marsteller, raised concern over the female domination of PR at a public relations conference last fall. Burson is not the only one who is bothered by the inequality in the field -- many women feel that the lack of men in their profession is “unhealthy” and that when a client seeks public relations services the “input should come from a group of people balanced by gender.”

Although women dominate the PR industry in number, men still run 63 of the top 100 public relations firms and are the heads of all top 10 firms. Also, men outnumber women in corporate PR departments and dominate the most lucrative PR specialties, such as corporate finance. Even with these odds, women are faring better in the field of PR than in many other professions, such as accounting, where women are only 11 % of partners at the 25 largest firms.

Some people believe that women are successful in PR because “by nature [women] tend to be more verbal, expressive and nurturing than men, which fits naturally with public relations.”

(Source: USA Today, June 20, 2001).
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Lacking Pensions, Older Divorced Women Remain at Work

Because of the steady number of divorces that began in the late 1990’s and escalated, hundred of thousands of women in their late 50’s and 60’s are now finding themselves forced to continue working because they lack sufficient funds to retire. Also, older divorcees, who had taken time off to raise their children, are now forced to reenter the workforce after many years’ absence. These women face a harsh reality because they lack important years of work experience, which makes it difficult to find employment. The majority of divorced women do not have the pensions that their ex-husbands have to fall back on because they have not worked long enough to earn the pension of someone who worked a lifetime. Because of lacking retirement funds, the labor force participation rates of women in their early 60’s – covering those holding jobs or hunting for them – rose to a record 40 percent last year.

In the past women never thought to ask for a part of their husband’s pension upon divorcing, but today that trend is changing. New laws have emerged to protect women and help them prepare for retirement even after divorce. One such law states that “a divorced woman has rights to a share of her ex-husband’s Social Security pension, if the marriage lasted at least 10 years.” Today women are more aware of their entitlement to their husbands’ pensions and women advocate groups are even appealing before Congress to allow women to get credit for their years at home raising children, so that their pensions will be greater in the event of divorce.

(Source: The New York Times, June 26, 2001).
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