WICT Clicks: News Beyond Our Industry
Working Women Learn to Prioritize and Deliver on the Most Important ThingsFrom The Small Business Briefing, by Info Inc.Busy working women often think they can achieve much more by working harder, but in fact trying to do too much ends up slowing things down. The key is to work smarter, not harder.
The Battle Of The Sexes Is Over, A Woman's Nation: By The NumbersFrom Forbes, October 16, 2009, By Heidi BrownA new report from Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress finds that for the first time in history, women are half of all U.S. workers and mothers are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of American families. And that changes everything.
Women: The AnswerFrom Newsweek, September 12, 2009, By Nick ReillyAvon CEO Andrea Jung: “Any company that overlooks the woman as the decision maker is making a huge mistake.” The Boston Consulting Group: "Women represent the biggest emerging market that we'll see in our lifetime," with a net worth of $5 trillion.
Bad Economy Hasn't Changed Gen Y's Desire For Work/Life BalanceFrom Business Week, September 3, 2009, By Lindsey GerdesStudents value work-life balance above all else when listing top characteristics of an ideal entry-level employer, placing it well above other factors such as salary and meaningful work.
Women in IT: Success and StruggleFrom PC World, August 20, 2009 by Ellen MessmerPC World profiles Grace Egan, Vice President of Engineering Product Management at Time Warner Cable, Sherita Ceasar, Vice President of cross-platform applications and engineering services at Comcast and Vicki Hamilton, Senior Vice President for enterprise performance at Turner Broadcasting System's Operations and Strategy Group in this article on women's ranks in IT.
The World's 100 Most Powerful WomenFrom Forbes, August 19, 2009 Edited by Mary Ellen Egan & Chana SchoenbergerForbes' Power Women list isn't about celebrity or popularity; it's about influence. Congratulations to Oracle's Safra Catz, Disney's Anne Sweeney, MTV's Judy McGrath, Dreamworks' Stacey Snider and HSN's Mindy Grossman for being recognized in the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women list.
Missed opportunities abound in women marketingFrom PR Week, August 21, 2009, by Julia Hood A study in the Harvard Business Review states that female consumers control “about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next five years...Given those numbers, it would be foolish to ignore or underestimate the female consumer. And yet many companies do just that." The study also states that since women will soon outnumber men in the workforce, companies should not only be considering the consumer piece, but also the b-to-b implications of underwhelming this critical audience.
Few Gender Differences in a RecessionFrom The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2009 By Dana Mattioli The research group Catalyst found that men and women were roughly equally likely to be promoted or laid off. 36% of men were promoted and 10% lost jobs; 31% of women were promoted and 12% lost jobs.
Women's Performance: A Perception Gap?From Business Week, August 10, 2009, By Jena McGregor251 managers rated their leadership qualities and predicted how their managers would rate them. Male managers overestimated how others would rate them by 0.5%, while the female managers underestimated their review scores by 11%.
The October WICT Wire is about Defying Gravity.
WICT congratulates Safra Catz, President, Oracle;
Anne Sweeney, Co-chairman, Disney Media Networks;
Judy McGrath, Chief executive, MTV Networks;
Stacey Snider, Chief Executive, DreamWorks Studios
and Mindy Grossman, Chief executive, HSN, Inc. for being recognized in Forbes' The 100 Most Powerful Women.
Trust in News Media Falls to New Low in Pew SurveyFrom The New York Times, September 13, 2009, By Richard Perez-PenaThe Pew Research Center found that 63% of respondents said news articles were often inaccurate and only 29% said the media generally “get the facts straight”.
Women take over job market From USA TODAY, September 3, 2009, By Dennis CauchonWomen are on the verge of outnumbering men in the workforce for the first time. Women held 49.83% of the nation's jobs in June and are gaining the majority of jobs in the sectors that are growing: health care, education and government. However, women work fewer hours than men, hold more part-time jobs and men still dominate higher-paying executive ranks.
As Diane Sawyer replaces Charlie Gibson, the real story is that gender isn't the storyFrom The New York Daily News, September 3, 2009, By David Hinckley The most satisfying part of the reaction to Diane Sawyer replacing Charles Gibson is that it's being treated as a news story, not a woman story.
Delayed Retirement May Mean Fewer Job OpeningsFrom US News & World Report, September 3, 2009, By Emily Brandon A new Pew Research Center survey finds that nearly 40% of employed adults aged 62 and older say the economy has forced them to delay their retirement plans.
Women to Drive US Wine Market From PR Minds, September 2, 2009U.S. wine sales increased 3% during 2004–2008, worth $30B, and are projected to grow through 2012, possibly making the U.S. the world’s largest wine consuming market. The growth is primarily due to the growth in the number of female wine drinkers.
Mars grocery to pay $275,000 to settle gender suitFrom The Baltimore Sun, September 1, 2009, The Associated PressMars Super Markets will pay $275,000 to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit alleging that Mars wouldn't hire a woman as an apprentice meat cutter because she's a woman.
Governor's Race Erupts Over McDonnell's Past ViewsFrom The Washington Post, September 1, 2009, By Amy Gardner, Rosalind S. Helderman and Anita KumarThe Virginia governor's race ignited Republican Robert McDonnell's 20-year-old graduate thesis,that described working women as "detrimental" to the traditional family.
Californians working harder and longer, says surveyFrom The Los Angeles Times, September 1, 2009, by Tiffany HsuA new survey finds that 51% of employed Californians have heavier workloads, 53% reported being less secure in their jobs than two years ago and 45% are working longer hours to keep up with the cost of living.
Woman fired for e-mails in all capsFrom CNET, September 1, 2009 by Chris Matyszczyk An accountant in New Zealand was awarded $11,447 for being fired because her email style included capital letters, bold typefaces and red text in her e-mails. She now reportedly intends to pursue her former employer for further compensation.
'Drop Dead Diva' Continues Audience AdvanceFrom Multichannel News, August 31, 2009 by Mike ReynoldsLifetime's comedy Drop Dead Diva continues to build its audience, gaining 25% to achieve 2.0 rating among women 18 to 49 and a 28% gain with women 25 to 54 to achieve a 2.3 for the Aug. 30 show. These demos have grown for three consecutive weeks.
Women’s Magazines Fare Poorly in Latest Circulation FiguresFrom The New York Times, August 31, 2009 By Richard Perez-PenaNewsstand sales of magazines - especially women’s magazines - fell in the first half of 2009. Women’s magazines rely more heavily on newsstand circulation, and single-copy sales suffer during recessions, as people refrain from impulse buys, and higher unemployment means fewer commuters passing newsstands.
Texas State is helping create women-owned high-tech firmsFrom The San Antonio Business Journal, August 28, 2009Texas State University will launch ACTiVATE, a program to increase women’s entrepreneurship in science and technology. Recruited women in technology will license university technologies and launch start-up companies. ACTiVATE originated at the University of Maryland-Baltimore where the program has launched three to five companies a year.
U. of Northern Colorado gets $1.17M grant to boost women faculty in tech fieldsFrom the Denver Business Journal August 28, 2009The University of Northern Colorado will receive $1.17M from the National Science Foundation to lead a nationwide program to improve promotion and retention of female college faculty members in science, technology, engineering and math.
575 companies receive subsidies to implement work-life balanceFrom Channel NewsAsia, August 27, 2009, By Valarie TanIn Singapore, 575 companies each received up to $10,000 subsidies to adopt flexible work arrangements. The Ministry of Manpower said studies show that flexibility to manage their lives increases employees commitment, leads to greater productivity, lower costs and helps companies overcome the current downturn.
Still fighting for equal rightsFrom the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 2009 By Stacey newmanToday is the 89th anniversary of Women's Equality Day, commemorating the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote. It clearly is time to look at equity across all lines. Gender discrimination is no relic of the past, and the progress of the past 50 years is reversible.
Women's Equality Day From The Voice of America, August 25, 2009August 26th is Women's Equality day in the United States. It was on this date in 1920 that passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was adopted and thus became U.S. law.
SAT scores show disparities by race, gender, family incomeFrom USA TODAY, August 25, 2009, By Mary Beth Marklein, Current SAT test-takers are the most diverse ever recorded, yet the average score for females (1496) is 27 points below the average score for males.
Gender and Career: Is Testosterone a Factor?From WebMD, August 25, 2009, By Caroline WilbertA study of 500 MBA students suggests a significant correlation between higher testosterone in women and lower risk aversion. Two years later, "individuals high in testosterone and low in risk aversion were more likely to choose risky careers in finance."
Weinstein credits women for $65-million worldwide opening of 'Inglourious Basterds'From The Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2009 by Ben FritzWeinstein Co. Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein aggressively courted women for his film "Inglourious Basterds" after research showed that “guys loved this movie but said women would not.” Weinstein placed ads in women's magazines, on websites and on television shows including "Battle of the Network Stars" and the Weinstein Co.-produced "Project Runway," on Lifetime.
Basics; Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop From The New York Times, August 18, 2009, By Natalie AngierConsistently high levels of stress can cause regions of the brain associated with executive decision-making and goal-directed behaviors shrivel, while brain sectors linked to habit formation to grow.
Clinton Puts Spotlight On Women's Issues, Elevating Rights Is a Focus of SecretaryFrom The Washington Post, August 18, 2009, By Mary Beth SheridanHillary Clinton's 11-day trip to Africa has sent the clearest signal yet that she intends to make women's rights one of her signature issues and a higher priority than ever before in American diplomacy.
NCSU study: White men get more executive job tipsFrom The Triangle Business Journal, August 17, 2009, by Chris BaysdenA study from North Carolina State University, found that white men are told more often about high-level job openings through routine conversations without asking for it than women, Hispanics or African Americans.
How to Be a Smart Protégé: Eight tips for setting up a network of mentorsFrom The Wall Street Journal, AUGUST 17, 2009, By DAWN E. CHANDLER, DOUGLAS T. HALL and KATHY E. KRAM The Wall Street Journal offers eight tips for savvy mentees/protégés that include recognizing when colleagues are interested in becoming mentors; put in lots of work at the start of a relationship with a mentor; and follow up with people who have offered counsel them, to let them know how their support helped.
Professional Power Group Plugs In Younger Women From WeNews, August 17, 2009, By Sarah SeltzerThe National Council for Research on Women has begun promoting mentors and peer support for younger women to address the gap between women in college and right out of school and then women who are established in their careers.
Study shows 40% of tweets are 'pointless babble'From USA Today, August 17, 2009, Posted by Doug Stanglin A study of two weeks' worth of Twitter traffic finds that 40% of tweets are "pointless babble." The study also found that Twitter reaches 27M people per month in the USA; 55% are female; 43% are ages 18 to 34; “retweets” were highest at 11:30 a.m. or on a Monday.
At Camp CEO, Women Offer Girl Scouts LessonsFrom The Washington Post, August 16, 2009, By Jennifer BuskeCamp CEO brought 30 women CEOs, law firm partners, judges, doctors and entrepreneurs together with 30 Girl Scouts from Washington DC to participate in traditional camp activities while networking with and getting career advice from women in power in the Washington area.
U.S. Employers Grow More OptimisticFrom The Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2009, By Sarah E. Needleman 33% of 175 firms surveyed are planning to unfreeze salaries within the next six months and 79% within the next year.
Moving backward: Union claims city salary cuts reverse hard-won gains for women and people of colorFrom The San Francisco Bay Guardian, August 12, 2009, By Rebecca Bowe88 San Francisco's certified nursing assistants (CNAs) were laid off and simultaneously rehired as patient care assistants, (similar responsibilities but 79% of the salary), as part of midyear budget cuts. Tom Jackson, representing Sup. Chris Daly, said "You've been fighting for decades [for pay equity] ... and they're ready to wipe it away because we have a bad economy.”
The MancessionFrom The New York Times, August 10, 2009, By Catherine Rampell As of June 2009, women held 49.8% of all nonfarm payroll jobs, yet if the recession is nearing a close, as some economists argue, women may have lost the opportunity of taking over a majority of the labor force.
Women buy 40% of tech gadgetsFrom The Chicago Tribune, August 10, 2009, By Kevin HuntA study by the Market Research company NPD Group found that women account for 40% of consumer-electronics spending. "If you look at the stats," said Suzanne Kantra, former technology editor of Popular Science magazine and for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, "women either make the purchase or influence it in more than half of consumer-electronics items."
Gender, Majors and Money From Inside Higher Ed, August 10, 2009, By Scott JaschikChoice of college major represents 19% of the income gap between men and women who graduated high school in 1999. For those who graduated 20 years earlier, the impact was double. Recruit more female students into science programs should help, but should augmented by hiring female faculty members in these departments.
Senate Confirms Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme CourtFrom the Washington Post, August 6, 2009Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the nation's 111th Supreme Court justice and the first ever of Hispanic descent. Sotomayor becomes the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court, following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Study: Diversity in Management Ranks Lacking at TV StationsFrom MediaWeek, August 6, 2009, By Katy BachmanThe National Association of Black Journalists found that only 11.7% of broadcast televisions news managers are people of color. That's down significantly from last year's Television Management Diversity Census, which found that people of color comprised 16.6% of news managers.
Often, men help women get to the corner officeFrom USA Today, August 5, 2009, By Del JonesWhen USA TODAY asked female CEOs, chairs and company founders to identify the one mentor who had the most influence on their careers, 33 of the 34 who responded identified a man. One reason may be that there are only 29 Fortune 1,000 companies with a female CEO.
The Bottom Line of Women and Business in This EconomyFrom Women On the Web, August 4, 2009, By The Staff at wowOwow.comAlice Eagly, chairman of the department of social psychology at Northwestern University has found that "Female managers are more collaborative and democratic than male managers." Gary Powell, management professor at the University of Connecticut "Female leaders tend to display a ‘transformational’ leadership style, which has been demonstrated to contribute to leader effectiveness, more than male leaders do."
Diversity is the Key to ProfitabilityFrom The Huffington Post, July 30, 2009 by Chloe DrewDiversity drives growth, creativity and value. Creating business opportunities for women and minorities at every level of management leads to a more competitive economic environment. Real diversity is the outcome of a comprehensive approach that improves the mix at every level of management -- an integrated, multilevel strategy that recognizes diversity is key to profitability.
No Doubts: Women Are Better Managers, An Interview with the Elle Group’s Carol SmithFrom The New York Times, July 26, 2009, by Adam Bryant.In this interview, Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, explains “In my experience, female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers... Men also, they’re definitely better on the “whatever” side. Things tend to roll off their back. ... Men and women together is the best.
Work-life 'balance' laid bareFrom The Miami Herald, July 25, 2009, By Ana Veciana-SuarezJack Welch’s remark ``There's no such thing as work-life balance,'' has reignited the debate: Can you both tend the home fires and stoke a high-powered career? The work-life truism remains: the more time devoted to your job, the less time you have for the spouse and kids. This isn't a gender issue; it's a mathematical equation.
Hillary speaks up for womenFrom The Hindu, July 21, 2009NEW DELHI: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted that women were key to economic progress and countries would never realize their potential if half of their workforce were not given employment, education and health care.
Minority Turnout Was Critical to Obama's Election, Data ShowFrom Wall Street Journal , July 21, 2009Census Bureau data released Monday shows strong minority-voter turnout helped President Obama win swing states and make inroads into Republican strongholds. Key statistics:• About 5M more people voted in the presidential election than the last one, made up mostly by minorities.• Two million more black and Hispanic voters and 600,000 additional Asians went to the polls.• Young voters (18-24) had a 49% turnout rate, up from 47% in 2004.• Sen. John McCain won white voters by 12% points, versus the 17% point margin enjoyed by George W. Bush in 2004.
Women Breadwinners, Men UnemployedFrom the Center for American Progress, July 20, 2009 Over the past 19 months, there has been a sharp rise married couples with a working wife and unemployed husband across a variety of demographic groups. Men have experienced three-out-of-every-four jobs lost and this year, 15.6% of working wives have a husband who is not working, up 3.5 percentage points from early 2007.There is a sharp increase unemployed husbands across demographic groups:• Among young (ages 18 to 24) working, 9.9%, up 5.5 points from early 2007.• Among working women without a high school degree, 8.3 %, up 4 points since 2007. • Among wives with a college degree, an increase of 2.2 points.
Americans turn to the web for help during recessionFrom Credit.com, July 20, 2009 The Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that 88% of internet users in the U.S. have gone to the web to get information about the economic downturn and discover ways to save money. 34% have written about the economy on social networking sites like Twitter or on blogs.
Add One More Play by a Woman to the New Season RosterFrom The New York Times, July 20, 2009 With some New York theaters cutting their offerings in 2009-10 because of cost concerns, leaders of the Women’s Project will increase its main stage productions from two plays to three for its 2009-10 season. The 32-year-old theater company has an annual budget of slightly more than $1 million and produces shows written and directed by female artists.
HFD lags far behind in hiring women - Profession remains a male bastion around the nationFrom The Houston Chronicle, July 20, 2009,While U.S. military branches and law enforcement agencies are working to bring women into their ranks, the great majority of fire departments — including Houston’s — failed to follow suit. Women may represent about 13% of law enforcement patrol officers according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, but they are less than 5% of the nation's firefighters.
Walking is a protest against sex bias - Ex-police officer treks from Poconos to White HouseFrom The Baltimore Sun, July 20, 2009In an effort to raise awareness about what she and others believe is widespread discrimination against women in law enforcement, Debra Hartley is taking a 225-mile walk to Washington from her home in the Poconos. According to the Women's Justice Center, the female population of police departments with more than 100 officers has dropped from 14% in 2001 to 12%.
Welch: 'No Such Thing as Work-Life Balance'From Business Innovation through Diversity, July 14, 2009Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch has some blunt words for women climbing the corporate ladder. “There’s no such thing as work-life balance,” Mr. Welch told the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference. “There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.”
Wal-Mart Foundation Helps Fund Green Job Training for WomenFrom GreenBiz, July 13, 2009Citing a need for increasing the number of women eligible for jobs in a green economy, the Wal-Mart Foundation is partnering with the Business and Professional Women's Foundation by providing $60,000 in grants to four organizations to provide green job training for women. The initiative is called "Moving from Red to Green: Working Women in the Green Economy".
Multitasking Ability Can Be Improved Through TrainingFrom ScienceDaily, July 16, 2009Training increases brain processing speed and improves our ability to multitask, new research from Vanderbilt University published in the June 15 issue of Neuron indicates."Our results imply that the fundamental reason we are lousy multitaskers is because our brains process each task slowly, creating a bottleneck at the central stage of decision making," René Marois, co-author of the study, said. “Practice enables our brain to process each task more quickly through this bottleneck, speeding up performance overall.”
Women More Accurate At Hammering A Nail Than Men In Good LightFrom ScienceDaily, July 6, 2009Dr. Duncan Irschick and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have measured hammering performance in men and women and found that women are more accurate than men when hammering in well lit conditions, but under light deprivation, men are more accurate.
Decades After WWII, Female Pilots Finally HonoredFrom NPR, July 4, 2009President Obama has signed a bill granting the Congressional Gold Medal to the first women to fly military aircraft: the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP. Though they were test pilots and trainers on bases during World War II, they were never considered members of the military. It wasn’t until Maj. Nicole Malachowski, the first woman to fly in the ultra-elite Thunderbirds, championed their cause that the bill became a reality.
Apartment Building for Homeless Women Set to OpenFrom The Washington Post, July 3, 2009A newly renovated apartment building will soon open its doors to 16 single homeless women. The Dunbar is designed for women who have been homeless for more than a year or who have been homeless at least four times in the past year. Women make up 25% of the estimated 4,000 single homeless people in Washington DC.
NYT Magazine Issue on WomenFrom NYT Blog by Nicholas Kristof, June 30, 2009The New York Times Sunday Magazine is devoting the Aug. 23 issue to women in the developing world in part due to the growing recognition that to fight poverty and extremism, women need to be empowered and brought them into the economy. A country can’t grow and be stable if half the population is marginalized.
What Women Want Today: Sam's Club and Working Mother Team Up to Ask Moms 'What's On Your Mind?'From PRNewswire, June 29, 2009Working Mother magazine and Sam's Club honored 30 "Working Mothers of the Year" who balance career, motherhood and self-development with an event and roundtable discussion on access to affordable healthcare, the economy and a how technology moves business forward.
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and the Motorola Foundation Partner to Inspire Tomorrow’s InnovatorsFrom Business Wire, June 25, 2009The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) has received a $30,560 Innovation Generation grant from the Motorola Foundation to fund a K-12 Computer Science Teacher Workshop. The Motorola Foundation’s grants support programs that engage students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and is providing $5 million in 2009.
Paycheck FairnessFrom The New York Times, June 23, 2009Women still make, on average, 78 cents for every dollar earned by men performing substantially the same work. To foster greater fairness, stronger civil rights protections are required. The Paycheck Fairness Act would provide those protections by ensuring that courts require employers to show that wage disparities are job-related, not sex-based, and consistent with business needs.
Roles of women in higher educationFrom University Chronicle, June 21, 2009117 students, administrators and faculty gathered at St. Cloud University (SCSU) MN for the first Summer Leadership Institute for Women in Higher Education. Dr. Sharon McDade, Director of the American Council on Education, described the professional and career life cycle of women administrators as a game of “chutes and ladders.” Despite women making up the majority of students, Associate Dean Dr. Jill Abbott said “Women are still under-represented in areas of leadership and administration, so it is important to ... encourage a diverse leadership profile.”
The Divine, Too, Is in the Details: Jacqueline Kosecoff, CEO Prescription Solutions, a UnitedHealth Group companyFrom The New York Times, June 20, 2009A lot of our women executives never went on to get an M.B.A., and yet they’re in a big corporation where they need to understand financial matters. They’re reluctant to go to the guys, as it were, and say: ‘Could you teach me how to read a balance sheet?’ So we had classes, taught by women, for women, on how to become financially literate. And people throughout the organization, came to these classes.
Hold the Interview: Why It May Be Wiser To Hire People Without Meeting ThemFrom Fast Company, June, 2009Interviews are less predictive of job performance than work samples, job-knowledge tests and peer ratings of past performance. Read about an accidental University of Texas Medical School study that bears this out.
Supreme Court reverses long-standing rule against age discriminationFrom The Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2009The Supreme Court has made it harder for older workers to win age discrimination cases in court. Now workers must prove age was the deciding factor for dismissal or demotion.
Florida parents sue over gender discrimination in schedule changeFrom USA Today, June 19, 2009A group of parents sued the Florida High School Athletic Association, alleging that a new scheduling rule designed to save money discriminates against female student-athletes by cutting the number of varsity games in sports, yet Football remained exempt.
Steinem's Women's Media Center Holds First Annual Media AwardsFrom MediaBistro, Thursday, Jun 18The first annual Women's Media Center Media Awards honored CNN's Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, among six women in the media industry who have done outstanding work in bringing women's issues to the forefront of media coverage. The event also admonished organizations and events that shed a negative light on women.
On the job: women in the workplaceFrom USA Today, June 18, 2009A Development Dimensions International study of global leadership found that 28% more men than women are in first-level high-potential programs, which diminishes the chances for executive promotion for women. 50% more men than women are in such programs at the executive level.
Women Face More Retirement Risks, Study Says From Financial Advisor, June 18, 2009One in five single women age 65 or older is living in poverty, according to a new report from the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). Among the findings:- Women at age 65 are expected to live, on average, another 20 years—four years longer than men. - Less than half of today’s working women have access to pension or retirement savings plans at work.- Women are likely to spend some of their retirement years alone due to widowhood or divorce. - Nearly 40% of older women living alone depend on Social Security for almost all of their income, and more than half would be living in poverty were it not for their Social Security benefits.
Women's Fund, partners give $65K in grants for financial literacy programsFrom Birmingham Business Journal, June 18, 2009The Women’s Fund, along with corporate partners Regions Financial Corp. and BBVA Compass, awarded a total of $65,000 in grants to pay for financial literacy classes for women and girls.
Survey: Company Health-Care Costs to Rise 9% in 2010From Business Week, June 18, 2009U.S. employers can expect to see their health-care costs rise by 9% next year, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute. 42% of employers expect to increase the amount that employees must contribute to health benefit plans, and 41% expect to increase co-pays, deductibles, and other health costs paid by employees.
More Studies Extol Virtues of Green JobsFrom the New York Times, June 18, 2009A study from the Pew Charitable Trusts suggest that clean-energy investments have the potential to kick-start the economy and employ millions of workers — particularly those at the lower end of the economic scale.
Military contractor settles discrimination suitFrom The Arizona Republic, Jun. 17, 2009A Phoenix-based military contractor will pay $110,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged sex and age discrimination and unlawful retaliation. Simula Inc. was sued by the U.S. EEOC charging that three temporary female employees were paid less than male employees.
Sex-based Discrimination in Medical Trials Needs to EndFrom U.S. News & World Report, June 9, 2009 A new survey of clinical cancer trials shows that women made up just 37% of participants in studies not receiving government funding and only 41% of studies that received government funding.
Getting Women Into the Game Groups Try New InitiativesFrom The Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2009 Women On Course is now emphasizing the “golf lifestyle” rather than the benefits of using golf as a business tool to attract and retain women to golf. Women now make up only 23% of all golfers.
To attend WICT Atlanta's Discounted Golf Clinics through 8/1/2009 click here.
To attend WICT South Florida 2nd Annual Charity Golf Tournament 6/18/2009 click here.
Wal-Mart Vows to Promote WomenFrom Business Week, June 5, 2009Seeking to counter Wal-Mart's image as a company that sells mostly to women yet is overwhelmingly run by men (women make up only 27% of senior managers), Wal-Mart’s new CEO pledged to boost the retailer's commitment to developing female leaders by launching a "global women's council.
International Museum of Women names new executive directorFrom The San Francisco Business Times, June 5, 2009Clare Winterton has been named executive director of the International Museum of Women, a museum without borders whose programming exists almost exclusively online.
Experts Consider the Global Economic Crisis, Call for Urgent Investment in WomenFrom Women for Women, June 3, 2009300 people gathered in Manhattan to hear from thought leaders including Women for Women International Founder and CEO Zainab Salbi as they examined the effects of the global economic crisis on the world’s developing and conflict-affected countries, especially for women.
Twitter and Gender: New research reveals different patterns of Twitter use for men and womenFrom Business Week, June 2, 2009Though women represent 55% of Twitter users, research finds that men have 15% more followers than women.
Women Bridging Gap in Science Opportunities From the New York Times, June 2, 2009Prospects for women scientists and engineers at major universities have improved, but women still face inequalities in salary and access to some other resources, a panel of the National Research Council concludes.
Ursula Burns: An Historic Succession at XeroxFrom Business Week, May 28, 2009 Xerox will be the first Fortune 500 company headed by a black woman when Ursula Burns, 50, becomes CEO this summer. Burns replaces CEO Anne Mulcahy after beginning as an intern in 1980 and rising to president in 2002, becoming the first female CEO to take the reins from another woman at major U.S. corporation.
Historic nomination: Hispanic Sotomayor as justiceFrom The Washington Post, May 27, 2009Reaching for history, President Barack Obama on Tuesday chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court.
U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd Pushing Bill To Close Gender Pay GapFrom The Hartford Courant, May 21, 2009"In Connecticut, women are paid only 76 cents to every dollar that men are paid," Dodd said at a press conference with Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Rosa DeLauro. "That's not only discrimination- it's robbery.''
Best Buy names execs to head women’s leadership effortFrom the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, May 20, 2009Best Buy names two company Vice Presidents, Liz Haesler and Mary Stoddart, to lead its Women’s Leadership Forum (WOLF), a company effort to grow the number of female employees and female market share.
First women elected to Kuwait parliamentFrom The Guardian, May 17, 2009Four women won parliamentary seats in Kuwait’s elections, marking the first time women have won in the 50 years of Kuwait's parliament.
Women Will Rule BusinessFrom Time Magazine, May 14, 2009The "female" management style is lucrative. In a study of Fortune 500 companies, those with the most women in senior management had a higher return on equities — by more than a third.
What Do Women Want in a Laptop?From The New York Times, May 14, 2009After an online backlash at tech "tips" aimed at women that included calorie counting and recipe searching on a laptop, Dell altered its web site "Della".
Local women propel funding campaign to historic highsFrom The Seattle Times, May 13, 2009Women Moving Millions, surpassed its target to get women to donate $1 million each toward non-profits that help women and girls thanks in part to a handful of Seattle philanthropists.
Recession CultureFrom New York Magazine, May 10, 2009A study finds that just thinking about money makes subjects less likely to help strangers.
WICT Empowerment Partner, Paper to Pearls, Featured in Coolest African Fair-Trade FashionsFebruary 10, 2009, The Huffington PostWell-known environmentalist and blogger Summer Rayne Oakes selected WICT Empowerment Partner Paper to Pearls jewelry as one of her "Top 10 Coolest Fair Trade Fashions"