Human Resources: Executive Summary:Women in the Workforce

Women have not achieved equality in the U.S. business arenas, and many would argue that the progress they have made has come all too slowly and unsteadily. Still, women do represent a much larger share of the U.S. labor force than they did a century ago, and they hold a significant proportion of U.S. management positions today.

Women now account for 46.6% of the Unites States labor force, bringing with them the experience and capabilities of diverse ethnic, educational and generational groups. But they're expected to remain slightly less than half the labor force well into the future, with government projections placing the proportion at 48% in 2050.

In the U.S., the millennium ushered in the worst period of prolonged job loss in 40 years for women, according to Prof. Heidi Hartmann of George Washington University. Those who were single and women of color were most likely to find themselves out of work. Women who did work still were more likely than men to hold part-time or low-paying jobs or to work in industries with no retirement benefits.

There are, however, some positive workforce trends for women. They held about 50% of management and professional positions in the U.S. by 2004, and they're a growing share of senior-level managers at top firms. White and Asian-American women were most likely to be those managers or professionals.

Nonetheless, many observers believe the so-called glass ceiling remains very much intact. Three out of four CEOs in the U.S. are male, and still only 15% of Fortune 500 companies have women in senior-level management positions. In fact, overall, women have lost ground in governmental policymaking posts and management jobs during the last decade.

Another concern is that wages for women trail those of men across occupations, age groups, ethnicities, and trade union membership. In the U.S., women make only 75.5 cents on the dollar compared with men, and the figure drops to a dismal 44% of men's earnings when averaged over the full time span of a career. While some portion of the gap is likely due to differences in job experience, education and lifestyle choice, gender bias also seems to play a major role. In fact, women are paid less than men for doing the same job as men in virtually all job categories, according to a study by Hilary Lips, a Radford University psychology professor. Her study attempted to control for such factors as gender differences in time spent out of the labor force.

Certainly, many women feel discriminated against. The number of sexual discrimination claims made with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is second only to race discrimination claims. Moreover, the monetary benefits won by EEOC actions are higher for sex discrimination than for race discrimination.

Perhaps because a corporate career still seems like an uphill battle to them, some women have opted to take the entrepreneurial route. Women accounted for almost 40% of self-employed people in the U.S., and businesses owned by Hispanic women grew by nearly 40% in the early 2000s, reflecting the increasing presence of Hispanic people in the U.S. population.

In an effort to reduce an exodus of talent, some companies are working harder to develop strategies and programs that attract, advance and retain women. And through mentoring initiatives, networking and other approaches, women are working to help themselves succeed in the business world.

What difference does it make if women rise to positions of leadership in business? Research has shown that companies with women in senior management enjoy higher returns on earnings and investments, and they increase value to their shareholders. When management and HR work together to implement strategies for helping women advance in the workplace, the whole organization tends to benefit.

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The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp, inc.) improves corporate productivity through a combination of research, community, tools and technology focused on the management of human capital. With more than 100 leading organizations as members, including many of the best-known companies in the world, i4cp draws upon one of the industry’s largest and most-experienced research teams and Executives-in-Residence to produce more than 10,000 pages annually of rapid, reliable and respected research and analysis surrounding all facets of the management of people in organizations. Additionally, i4cp identifies and analyzes the upcoming major issues and future trends that are expected to influence workforce productivity and provides member clients with tools and technology to execute leading-edge strategies and "next" practices on these issues and trends. i4cp is a for-profit company with offices in St. Petersburg, Florida.