Happy Monday!
The big news last week was the focus on getting more gender diversity at the Davos Word Economic Forum. No surprise that the gender makeup of the attendees mirrors the paltry numbers of women in positions of influence around the world. Read on: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/business/dealbook/a-push-for-gender-equality-at-the-world-economic-forum-and-beyond.html?_r=0
One institution taking real action to improve diversity is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – in response to the outcry for yet another slate of all white actors, its board announced substantial changes which will make its voting members significantly more diverse. Part of the problem was that its voting members are 95% white, 76% men and their average age was 63. Kudos to the Academy for taking steps to achieve real change: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/academy-promises-historic-changes-to-diversify-membership-20160123
From Bloomberg this week, the title of the article says it all “At Biotech Party, Gender Diversity Means Cocktail Waitresses.” Investors in the space need to take a page from the Academy’s book to address this lopsided situation:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-13/at-biotech-party-gender-diversity-means-cocktail-waitresses
Which brings me to an opinion piece from the NY Times this week that asks the question, “Why Aren’t Women Doing Better on Wall Street?” The author shares stories of a young banker who was groped publicly to settle a bet about whether her breasts were real and another woman who had a colleague take a shot of her breast milk that was in the company refrigerator on a dare. The author notes that this behavior goes largely unpunished because of the arbitration system that Wall Street uses to settle employee disputes. The upshot? The offenders go unpunished and women end up leaving the industry which contributes to the talent gap at the top. The full article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/a-colleague-drank-my-breast-milk-and-other-wall-street-tales.html?_r=0
Another interesting opinion piece came from the Huffington Post exploring why a white woman is suing to disable affirmative action. The article goes on to note that white women have benefited from affirmative action more than any other class, however, my readers will note that most young women don’t realize that the glass ceiling will hit them firmly on the head when they reach about 30 so they have the illusion of equal opportunity until then: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/affirmative-action-white-women_us_56a0ef6ae4b0d8cc1098d3a5
And if you think my math is off, note the following statistics about Barclays Bank which is making gender diversity a priority – in the news this week, Barclays  noted that the bank has 51% female and 59% male employees, however men occupy 80% of top jobs and board positions, so still a very long way to go: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/22/news/companies/barclays-bank-women-gender-workers/
Since January is prime job hunting season, I wanted to share this article on how the hiring process timeframe has been extended and the best way to manage it: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-deal-with-a-long-hiring-process-1453231053
Lastly, the 80’s began the move away from offices and to cubicles with the thought of both saving money and increasing collaboration. The downside is that new research shows that those cube farms also make it very difficult to concentrate thereby lowering productivity: http://www.wsj.com/articles/will-you-please-be-quiet-please-1453247167
We have just an outstanding line up of events coming for you in 2016. We thank you all for your continued support as we continue to grow and look forward to seeing you all soon!
Very kind regards
 
Christine