Women
in the
Boardroom
She takes a seat in the board room. Not in the corner and not at the end, but right
in the middle of the table. She has
come with well thought out plans
and ideas and is ready to speak up
in a strong voice – the voice she
learned as a cheerleader in high
school. She looks around the table
and sees a room full of incredible intelligent execu-
tive leaders, hardly cognizant that there is no other
woman sitting at the table. She is ready to chime in –
whether about corporate strategy, quarterly earnings,
or the latest football games.
As women, we have our own unique challenges
when it comes to obtaining our seat in the board
room, and we have to learn to overcome them.
While women are finding their way into executive
management roles, there needs to be an increase in
women sitting on governing boards. Women who
have attained corporate board positions have and
continue to perform as well as (if not better than)
their male counterparts. However, for a woman to
become a member of a governing board, she must
engage in strategic planning and fearless execution.
Now, more than ever, the time is ripe for women to
be able to climb the corporate ranks.
Overall, women in the United States have made
considerable strides in the past 50 years with respect
to professional advancement. With three female
justices sitting on the Supreme Court and female
candidates for President, women are establishing
their presence in what were once exclusively male
arenas. In 1998, only one woman led a Fortune 500
company; today, there are 24 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Nevertheless, the reality is that
progress in the United States has stalled. The percentage of women on all U.S. corporate boards has
By Debbie Hoffman
