By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – So you're having a hard time finding someone to sit on your corporate board of directors. You just can't believe that the good ol' boy network was derailed. Here's an idea most Texas companies haven't thought about: ask a woman to sit on the board. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
According to a study released by Catalyst, a research and advisory group on women in the corporate world, females only hold 12.4% of all board seats on the Fortune 500. If you go out to the Fortune 1000, it's 10.9%. Corporate Women Directors International, an organization that promotes the increased participation of women in corporate boards globally, shows that the rest of the world isn't doing much better. Australia and Canada, ranking right below us, are both above 9%. And Texas? 8.4%.
"Pathetic," is what the chairwoman of the organization was quoted saying in Tuesday's Dallas Morning News addressing that Texas figure. In fact, the Morning News was kind enough to list the top Texas companies in the Fortune 1000 who have women on its board of directors. Irving-based Michael's Stores include two women on its six-member board. And that ranked number one. It's a percentage thing. You would think Michael's Stores would be all women. But that's sexist of me, isn't it?! San-Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. tied second with Houston-based Compaq. SBC had six women out of 21 directors and Compaq, before the merger with Hewlett Packard, had two women out of seven.
In all fairness, I went searching for figures of ethnic minorities holding seats on corporate boards. To my delight and envy, Fortune magazine revealed that 65% of the Fortune 1000 have at least one member of an ethnic minority on their board of directors. That's up 10% from 1998. Women went up about 3% in eight years. A much, much slower pace. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.