Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504200044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
``When I accepted, I could feel them all relax,'' said Selby, who in the early 1970s was a pioneer in the clubby and almost exclusively male upper echelons of American business.
Now, about 570 women serve on boards of the country's largest companies and a survey of chief executive officers released Tuesday shows that many corporate leaders have made recruiting women directors a priority.
In the study, conducted by Catalyst, a not-for-profit research and consulting group, 85 percent of CEOs surveyed emphasized what they called the importance of having female directors. Nonetheless, only 52 percent of the companies have a woman on the board, and women comprise less than 7 percent of total seats.
``With CEOs committed to bringing women into the boardroom, we expect the trend upwards to continue,'' said Sheila Wellington, Catalyst's president. ``It's good for business and for the country.''
In the survey, CEOs indicated the force driving women onto boards is an awareness of the fundamental changes in American society, Catalyst said.
Female directors, they said, bring new perspectives and help a company stay in touch with the times. Furthermore, the survey respondents said the boards must reflect the diversity in customers, employees, shareholders and investors. They also said they couldn't ignore that women now comprise almost half the work force, more than half of college graduates and nearly half of business school graduates.
``If there is one thing American business has learned in the last few decades it is that it must be ahead of the curve on change,'' Wellington said. ``They can make better decisions when different perspectives are brought to the table.''
At Avon, four of the 10 outside directors now are women. Selby, recruited to the board from her job as national executive director of Girl Scouts of America, was chosen in 1972.
``The people we are trying to appeal to are women,'' said James Preston, chairman and chief executive of the cosmetics company. ``You can't substitute actual feminine perspective and the attitudes they bring to the deliberations.''
But in her early years as a director, Selby said, a big part of her job was making it easier for the men on the board who had never worked with women as peers.
Indeed, one unidentified CEO writing in response to the Catalyst survey acknowledged, ``It's easy for boards to get clublike and ingrown.''
Another factor holding women back, Catalyst found, was the lack of top level corporate experience, defined as a chief executive or chief operating officer. In all, 48 percent of CEOs said women candidates were hard to find.
``We recommend that companies expand the talent pool and reach out,'' Wellington said.
by CNB