Friday, November 12, 1999
Women hit walls on some levels
Survey: Few hold 'line officer' jobs
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — More and more women are breaking into the top ranks of corporate America, but they are seriously underrepresented in the “line officer” jobs that lead to promotions, according to a survey released Thursday.
The census prepared by the women's research group Catalyst also reports that minority women — African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics — hold just 1.3 percent of the executive positions in the nation's largest companies.
The New York group said women appear to be making steady progress in the headquarters of Fortune 500 companies, both in rank and compensation, since figures were first compiled in 1995.
Some 11.9 percent of the 11,681 corporate officers in America's top 500 companies are women, up from 11.2 percent last year and 8.7 percent five years ago, according to data collected from government filings and verified with the companies, Catalyst said.
Meanwhile, 3.3 percent of companies' top earners — measured in salaries, bonuses and annual stock options — are women, compared with 2.7 percent last year and just 1.2 percent in 1995.
“The numbers are small, but along every dimension ... they're moving in the right direction, and that's important,” Catalyst President Sheila Wellington said in a telephone interview.
Still, serious obstacles remain for women who want top corporate jobs, she said. The biggest hurdle appears to be that women are not well represented in so-called line officer positions — those who run the factories, head the sales staffs and supervise the accounting. Senior management tends to be promoted from these jobs.
“It's kind of a glass wall,” Ms. Wellington said. “Women tell Catalyst that they're not perceived as tough enough for line jobs. They're seen as having people skills, "soft' skills, and are nudged into human resources and public relations.”
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