Gender Inequality in the Workplace and Leadership Positions

Management
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Management
Summary
The Wall Street Journal article, “Women’s Share of Board Seats Rises To 20%” by Rachel Feintzeig entails how the number of women on boards of directors (BODs) of various firms in USA has increased in 2019 compared to previous years. The average number of women in corporation boards in USA has risen to 20% (Feintzeig, 2019). The article states that the number has been rising in recent years, indicating that by 2016, the average number of women on boards stood at 16%, which rose to 19% in 2018 and then to 20% this year (Feintzeig, 2019). The author suggests that modern investors and new laws are forcing companies to increase the number of women on their boards. Additionally, influence arising from new trends such as corporate social responsibility have influenced implementation of new laws aimed at forcing the inclusion of women in BODs. A law passed in California requires that all public firms within this state to at least have one female in their BODs. Additionally, this law states that all public companies within the state of California must forward the composition of their board in terms of gender and ethnicity and the methods they are using to promote diversity at the BOD level (Feintzeig, 2019). Subsequently, a significant number of public companies have appointed at least one female director. Companies situated in California such as Cohu Inc. and Veeva Systems Inc. have appointed women directors. Companies in other parts of the country are also following the trend. Recently, there have been several high-profile additions of female in boards of companies such as Starbucks, Amazon.com, Copart Inc., Apple Inc., Boeing Co., Alphabet Inc., and Harvard Business School, among others (Feintzeig, 2019). While some companies have appointed a woman director for the first time, others such as Veeva claim that they have had women directors on their boards since their establishment. In addition, the article indicates that pressure from renowned investors such as State Street Corp and BlackRock Inc. are forcing corporations to embrace diversity in their BODs. However, the article states that although women have been included in the BOD, they are expressing concerns regarding lack of influence in boards dominated by men. Similarly, some companies have expressed concern that forcing corporations to appoint females in BODs will hinder their career development. Consequently, some firms in California would rather pay the $100,000 fine as opposed to complying with the law, requiring them to add a woman in their...