Hire Me! The Best Companies For Women in Workplace And Why
The top companies in the country where a woman may snag a promotion to the manager level and also be able to be on the board may surprise you.
The top companies in the country where a woman may snag a promotion to the manager level and also be able to be on the board of directors may surprise you. The companies named by the National Association for Female Executives and Working Mother magazine are spread across many fields and disciplines and include tech, branding, cosmetics, research and more, according to a new list of the best 60 companies in the U.S. for executive women.
Writing in Business Insider, Rachel Gillett names Fleishman Hillard, the branding communications company, as far and away the best for women. Seventy-one percent of women working there report earning promotions to the level of manager or above. More than half, or 52 percent of the senior managers are women, while 47 percent of the executives in the company are women. In the board room, 42 percent of the board members are women.
L’Oreal comes in at second place for opportunities for women in the workplace, with 64 percent reporting promotions to the title of manager and above. Abbott, that invests in initiatives globally for the healthcare and empowerment of women and girls, has 26 percent women executives and 36 percent female board members.
Kellogg, the cereal folks, also made the list. In a release from the company that for years claimed to bring the best to you each morning, is an interview with Teresa Lindsey-Houston, Senior Director, Global Brand Marketing. According to Lindsey-Houston: “Professionally, teaming up with someone at one of the highest levels of leadership in the organization provides a much broader perspective than what I might otherwise be exposed to. Being matched with a leader who comes from a different culture and function gives me a new reference point when evaluating challenges. Listening to similar experiences and lessons learned by my mentor has stretched my thinking and in some cases, prompted me to reevaluate my own career goals.”
At Accenture, also ranked by NAFE as one of the best places for a female executive to work, Viridiana Zurita, managing director of Accenture Technology, writes this about her role as a leader in her company: “As the first woman on the leadership team at Accenture in Mexico, I was breaking paradigms, which, fortunately, new generations will face to a lesser extent. As a consultant, I see that inclusion and diversity in talent varies its progress depending on industry or workforce segment. But when women lead and participate actively in the full spectrum of business, we help to change mentalities and open doors for a more inclusive environment of talent at all levels.”
Zurita continues: “Fortunately, leaders are now aware of the importance of having diversity of talent as a key business component…At this stage of my career, I hope I can serve as an example at work and within the industry as a leader. More importantly, I am an example for my children, of how a woman can achieve her career goals without losing her essence.”
Moving from specific companies to professions when considering optimal cultures for women in the workplace, it may not come as a surprise that in America male dentists far outnumber female dentists. Only 28 percent, or 55,000 practicing dentists in this country are female, according to the latest figures from the American Dental Association. There are more than 143,000 male dentists.
Carol Gomez Summerhays, president of the ADA, says that gender imbalance may change because of the increase of women in dental schools, now at 47 percent. According to Summerhays, reaching parity in the dental profession and in leadership is a primary goal.
“Every time we get together in women’s conferences, I think it empowers women to take more leadership roles and to do more,” says Summerhays. “We really need to get more women in the pipeline for leadership positions and empower them in their practices as well.”
Even more rare than a woman in dentistry is a woman in a leadership role in nine major religious organizations, according to the latest Pew Research Center study.
According to Pew: “Currently, the American Baptist Churches USA and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are the only groups in our analysis with women in their top leadership positions. Susan Gillies is interim general secretary of the Baptist churches and Elizabeth Eaton is the presiding bishop of the Lutheran group.”
More results from the study show: “The Episcopal Church had a woman, Katharine Jefferts Schori, serving as presiding bishop from 2006 to 2015. In the United Methodist Church, another woman, Rosemarie Wenner, served two terms as president of the council of bishops, an international body charged with providing spiritual leadership to Methodists around the world.”
Another arena that has been historically male-dominated in numbers and mindset is the U.S. Army. But recent initiatives may change the imbalance there as well. According to Army Times, more than 220,000 jobs in the army will open up to women this year.
Kyle Jahner writes in Army Times: “Brig. Gen. Donna Martin, deputy commander of recruiting, said Army Recruiting Command will launch a project to ensure a team of female recruiters attends major gatherings and recruiting events.”
“’We are going to have a group of female recruiters go to recruiting events, augmenting recruiters already there,’ Martin told Army Times. “’They’ll be speaking to women to debunk the myths about serving in the military as a woman.’”
About the Author
Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com