The Social Sector's Glass Ceiling: Why Women In Leadership Jobs Matter

Two weeks ago, the Pew Research Center released the results of a national survey on women and leadership – results that still show major challenges in public life and the corporate C-suite for women in the U.S. 

We all know the big scores: 44-0 for the U.S. Presidency and the noted dearth (just 4.6% of the S&P 500) of women in the CEO role of major companies. There are 104 female member of the U.S. Congress – the most ever – but it’s somehow seen as a victory that a shade over 19 percent of elected representatives in our national legislature are now women.

The Pew study showed that attitudes are slowly changing – but that hurdles to parity (and fairness) still exist. According to the survey, women are far more likely than men to see gender discrimination in today’s society, and that “women and men are seen as equally good business leaders, but gender stereotypes persist.”

Reports Pew: “…the public does not see major differences between men and women on key business leadership qualities. Where they do see gaps, women have a clear advantage over men on honesty and ethics, providing fair pay and benefits, and offering mentorship to young employees. Men have an edge when it comes to being willing to take risks and negotiating profitable deals.”

That got me thinking about my own sector: nonprofits, philanthropists, social ventures. Where I go to work every day, the gender gaps tends to run in the opposite direction – and yet even here, the glass ceiling remains stubborn. 

Go to a philanthropy conference or a fundraising convention or a summit on social entrepreneurship or a roundtable on corporate social responsibility. Women predominate. The programs I’ve taught in here in New York – first at NYU and now at Columbia – are filled with ambitious and talented women seeking masters degrees to help them attain senior executive ranks in the social sector. In my own consulting practice over the last decade, working for nonprofits and foundations large and small, the person I report to (usually the executive director or development chief) has been about two times more likely to be a woman than a man. And I daresay, there’s at least parity among the strongest social sector writers, analysts and public intellectuals.

According to a 2013 survey by the White House Project, fully 73 percent of employees in the nonprofit sector are women. Yet, by all accounts, women have not yet reached parity in terms of leadership positions or pay.

”The social sector has a long way to go to meet gender equity in executive compensation,” said Guidestar research chief Chuck McLean last fall, when the organization released its annual report on nonprofit compensation. Guidestar found that women who are nonprofit chief executives made 11 percent less on average at organizations with budgets of $250,000 and 23 percent less at organizations with budgets between $25 million and $50 million. Further, the raw numbers are also troubling: when budgets are small, women make up the majority of executive directors and CEOs. As the budgets increase, the number of women in charge decreases; just 17 percent of nonprofits with budgets of more than $50 million had female leaders.
 
It’s hard to explain why this glass ceiling still exists in a sector so dominated – and frankly, made possible – by the work of women. Last year, the Chronicle of Philanthropy teamed with NYU to survey female nonprofit executives about their careers. The research found that 44 percent of female nonprofit workers “think their organization favors men over equally qualified women for chief leadership positions.” The survey found that big organizations also don’t take women donors as seriously as they do wealthy men – clearly a mistake in the changing world of U.S. philanthropy, where some are starting to urge a specific gender lens be applied to giving.

In its annual report on the state of governance of nonprofit boards of directors, the organization Boardsource cited a continued gender gap in leadership – with smaller organizations often led by women, but organizations of medium size (over $1 million) or large (over $10 million) employ female chief executives at a rate of just 37 percent. More encouraging was the data on women and board participation and leadership: the survey showed that women trailed men only by 52-48 in board membership, and by 54-46 in chairing nonprofit boards. This mirrors my own experience in the sector, and I think it’s encouraging.

I do believe that attitudes are changing, particularly among younger people. While parity in national politics and in the big companies is still far away, it’s a lot closer farther down the power pyramid. In this shift – which is happening now – the social sector can proudly claim its own leadership, and take pride in leading society forward.

Tom Watson covers social change movements, nonprofits, philanthropy and digital networks. He’s president of CauseWired LLC, a company serving the social sector.

Women at Work: The Glass Half Full

With the volume of media attention (Lean In; Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection) and the decibel level of the discussion on the life of working women, the assumption might be that the lives of female executives is unbalanced and unfair and unrewarding, however new studies (and a closer look at older ones) show that women are much happier, and more confident about their careers than the tone of the discussion would indicate. While the media and many women's organizations focus on what is wrong with the lives of women executives ("When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail."), a new generation of women leaders are focusing on what is right.

 

Women making personal choices
A McKinsey study showed the steady decline in the percentage of female leaders from hiring through middle and senior management but when you delve into the reasons, much of that is a simple choice between working and family - not a frustration with lack of opportunity or advancement. It's also women leaving for the independence of starting their own businesses. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's 2012 Women's Report found 126 million women starting or running a business, which means more than a third of global firms now have women owners.

Women believe in their opportunity
A new Accenture study found that 65 percent of women feel equal in the workplace, and 66 percent see visible role models. Only a third of respondents see work-life balance as the most important career factor. A 2012 report from the management consulting firm Accenture called "The Next Generation of Working Women" found that 65 percent of women feel equal to men in the workplace, and 66 percent see visible role models. Only a third of respondents reported viewing work-life balance as the most important career factor

Women want career success
A Pew study found that just as many young women as young men put a high-paying career on the list of the most important things in their lives. For the first time, more women than men put career success at the top of their list of values.

Progress trumping problems
The male hierarchy was established (in this country alone) over the better part of two centuries. The progress of female leadership has happened over a matter of two decades. A Forbes Insight Study found that 24 percent of senior leadership positions are filled by women. More highly visible female leaders including Ursula Burns at Xerox, Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, Virginia Rometty at IBM, and Marissa Mayer at Yahoo are reaching the top. The leadership landscape is full of female role models who might be in the minority, but are no longer the exceptions. We seldom see references today to the first-woman this, or the first-woman that. The Center for American Progress projects that by 2030 women will hold 41 percent of senior posts. And while they're still the minority -- women represent just 4.2 percent of the top positions at Fortune 500 companies -- women are no longer the exceptions either in high level positions or in traditionally male-dominated fields. FBI figures, for example, put the total number of women in law enforcement at around 12 percent, up from just 2 percent 30 years ago. Just recently the number of women in law-enforcement leadership took center stage in the Washington Navy Yard response. Studies also show a clear link between company performance and female leadership.

While we naturally tend to focus on current problems in a time of transition, it's important to see the forces reshaping the future. Most important of those forces is women who see that future through a lens of confidence and optimism. As in most things, change happens through the collective action of individuals, not the debate of observers.

This first appeared on Forbes.com