What's Wrong with This Picture?

I like this time of year, when the chemical industry's annual reports begin to flood across my desk. Thumbing through these beautifully written and illustrated documents is a source of great excitement and inspiration. The vitality and commitment of the chemical industry and its myri­

ad contributions to our well-being come through on each page. Yet, there is also something disturbing about these reports, and for a while I couldn't put my fin­

ger on what it was. Then a few weeks ago, I came across a photograph of a senior management team in an annual report from a leading chemical producer. The photo showed the chemical industry's version of a football team—11 men. I was curious about the lack of women in this one picture. Was it typical?

Sadly, it is. A review of annual reports reveals that very few chemical companies have substan­tial representation of women in their top management or, for that matter, on their boards of direc­tors. In an admittedly random sample of 19 chemical companies that listed 390 people in upper management, I found only 32 women, just a bit over 8%. Most of these women had titles related to human resources, communications, or finance; very few were line managers of operations.

Women fared slightly better on boards of directors: In 20 annual reports listing a total of 251 di­rectors, 31—12.4%—were women, all from outside the company. Most companies had only one woman, but a number of leading chemical producers had two women on their boards last year, among them Dow Chemical, DuPont, Air Products & Chemicals, Monsanto, Rohm and Haas, Her­cules, Amoco, Chevron, and Phillips Petroleum.

My nonscientific observations are supported by a recent study from Catalyst, a New York City-based nonprofit group that works with business to effect change for women. The "1995 Catalyst Census: Female Board Directors of the Fortune 500" companies found that of a total of 6,274 board seats, women occupy 600—or 9.5%. Catalyst notes that the chemical industry is about average in its appointment of women to boards of directors—9 to 10% of total board seats.

Catalyst also recently issued a study on "Women in Corporate Leadership: Progress and Pros­pects." It is the first large-scale research study of women who have made it to senior management in the nation's largest companies, including chemical companies. Of the 461 women in the study, 44% either report directly to the chief executive officer or are only one level from the CEO of the compa­ny. This landmark study once and for all dispels the notion that women do not make it to the top because they aren't in the managerial pipeline. They are. But there are real barriers to their obtaining positions of real power—to making the "team" and the picture in the annual report.

The most critical deterrent to women who aspire to top management in industry—according to CEOs and women themselves—is women's lack of significant general management or line experi­ence. The report concludes, "Until more women become plant managers, heads of sales and market­ing, vice presidents for operations, division presidents, and other senior line managers, and until more female executives have charge of businesses with substantial profit and loss responsibilities, the pipelines to corporate leadership will continue to lack a critical mass of women."

The Catalyst report emphasizes there are nontrivial obstacles to creating a critical mass, includ­ing male attitudes about women and the exclusion of women from informal networks that build trust and visibility that could lead to line management positions (see the book review in this issue of C&EN on page 45).

The Catalyst report should be required reading for every CEO, especially the chapter titled "Making Change Happen," which contains CEOs' and women executives' prescriptions for removing obstacles. Everyone knows that women are a valuable, underutilized intellectual resource, but studies show they also bring to the business table a unique perspective that results in stronger and more creative decisions. Until these cultural barriers are overcome, the picture for women in top management will continue to be bleak. That's bad news for business, and that's what's wrong with this picture.

Madeleine Jacobs Editor

Views expressed on this page are those of the author only and not necessarily those of ACS

MAY 6,1996 C&EN 5

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