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Overstock: Parity Pledge

By: Kathryn Rainville

Taking the Parity Pledge is a commitment to support and to celebrate the rise of women into the C-Suite. In December, Overstock.com, the e-commerce giant, was the latest large company to join the ranks of Best Buy, Cisco, and others in promising to work towards work place parity.

Companies who take the Parity Pledge promise “…to interview at least one qualified female candidate for every open executive position, vice president and above, including the C-suite and board of directors” (Overstock.com). With only 20% of S&P 500 executives being women, this pledge is focused on the creation of equal opportunity and advancement. Overstock.com credits their Women’s Network for encouraging this step forward in the promotion of equality within the organization.

Overstock.com views this move as a compliment to the work their Women’s Network has done in fostering diversity among employees and the revelations brought forth from different points of view. In making a national pledge to the diversity it values, Overstock.com hopes “…to become role models for change,” says Parity.org founder and CEO, Cathrin Stickney.

For more information on the Parity Pledge, and how you can further support it as an individual, visit www.parity.org.

Source:

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/12/08/1250361/0/en/Overstock-com-Takes-ParityPledge-to-Improve-the-Pathway-for-Women-in-Leadership-Positions.html… Read more and comment

Equal Pay Across Industries

written by: Marianie Arroyo

Gender pay differences are at the forefront of the core issues that organizations who advocate for and support women’s advancement in the workplace defend. Coming from a family that encourages women’s academic and professional development and having a CFO dad that was very supportive and whom I admire greatly; this topic was unbeknownst to me. All of this changed at 16 when I was negotiating my first professional athlete contract. I was confronted with a situation where I was expected to accept what I was offered and given the perception that anyone who had reached that level was lucky enough and that you had to accept their terms because this was the way it was done.

One of the industries where women experience a huge pay gap is in Professional Sports. In my opinion there are several factors that give you a clue like seeing few women coaches in most disciplines and very few women general managers and team owners. Salary data shows evidence that the gender pay gap is still prevalent in the business of sports in 2018. Women sports’ disciplines such as volleyball have the same average amount of sponsors and even more fans … Read more and comment

Stitch Fix: Inventory nightmare, or the part-time fashionista/part-time worker’s dream?

By: Kathryn Rainville

Katrina Lake, CEO of Stitch Fix, took her Harvard Business School e-commerce proposal to an IPO of $2 billion last fall. As the youngest woman to ever do so, Lake was praised; as one Twitter user stated, “It [was] so perfectly a ‘yes, we are ladies in charge’ moment” (Elle). For all the praise, the world confronted her with the classic female executive question: “How do you do it all?”

This question, among others in the same vein, fueled Lake, and as she stated in multiple interviews “There was one point where [she] felt [she] should be [called] a tech CEO and not a woman CEO” (Elle). This delineation is a powerful statement – a normalization of being a female executive in a male-dominated industry. Not only is she normalizing women in the C-Suite, her company employs greater than 80% women in the technology field.

Initially, Lake was doubted for her e-commerce idea. This was a challenge though, not a threat. Being a woman allowed Lake to see opportunities in e-commerce that men did not or would not attempt. In fact, her professors believed it was a complete “inventory nightmare,” and could not … Read more and comment

Happy Mother’s Day!

What Amazon Moving to Denver Really Means

• Guest contributor: Kathryn Rainville

As we all anxiously await Amazon to announce where it will be opening its second headquarters, some are already dreaming of a Denver with Amazon, and what it would mean. In a recent interview with the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce CEO Kristen Blessman, ABC discusses the benefits of Amazon moving here beyond the economic payout. While Amazon may be questioning whether Denver can provide the workforce that they need, Kristen Blessman points to the obvious: in a city becoming more focused on the tech industry, Amazon would thrive in our community. Not only would the organization bring talent to the state, but the state would provide would likely be able to obtain greater funding for STEM fields, which would focus on boosting women and young girls into the technology industry.

Finally, and perhaps the most exciting revelation in this interview, was Blessman’s announcement that based on a presentation researched by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce last year, “the wage gap is shrinking and doing really well in tech.” While men still dominate, “there’s less of a wage gap in tech jobs than there are in other industries that are actually dominated by women” (TheDenverChannel.com team). … Read more and comment

Be an Ally – Getting Men Involved

As a regular part of leading the DISH Women’s Network (DWN) for the last three years, I’ve often been asked why we keep the Network open to men. Before we launched the Network, we heavily debated what to name it, constantly asking ourselves, “How can we build a community for women to grow together and pursue equality in the workforce while encouraging men to be active members of the group?”

Women make up 49% of the workforce. However, these numbers dwindle with each promotion and level of advancement. The reality is: the c-suite, boards and executive chains of companies remain heavily skewed towards male leadership. This means that women AND men must work together to reach parity. Beyond that – we need managers and teammates to take active roles in ensuring their female colleagues have fair and flourishing work experiences.

To that end, I am often asked how we get men involved.

My standard answer is this: everyone has a mother, daughter, sister, wife, girlfriend, partner, friend or peer who is being negatively impacted by this issue. Not only is this inequality bad for the women in their lives, but it is bad for business. Gender diversity in leadership strongly … Read more and comment

The DISH with Daphna

What began as a thirty-minute conversation with Daphna Ziman, President of Cinemoi North America, ultimately yielded a trove of inspiration, insight, and motivation to build lasting change. In our brief but impactful interview with the media mogul, we discussed her industry-shaking business agenda, revolutionary leadership style, and tactics for women to achieve success.

Self-proclaimed workaholic and visionary, Daphna follows her intuition in all that she does. This guiding principle explains her leading a revolutionary network, Cinemoi, a carefully curated, breakthrough channel with an emphasis on women. Notably, Daphna views her role in TV as a gatekeeper to the future (and believes this applies to anyone in the industry.) The goal is to translate reality into an authentic viewership experience for tomorrow’s future leaders. This self-assigned judiciary responsibility influences Cinemoi’s content curation, marketing, and overall brand positioning. Perhaps, this vision will set a new standard for Daphna’s peers across the industry.

Growing up on American TV, Daphna is honored to work in the space, but acknowledges vast room for improvement in content distribution and quality assurance across Hollywood. Seeing opportunity to enhance the position of women in television, Daphna dove into her work with a passionate focus.

 … Read more and comment

Meet Me in the Middle

Statistics prove out that 68% of women and 52% of men accept the salaries they are offered, with no attempt at negotiation. Even though companies build in extra funding for job candidates and current employees to negotiate, this money is left on the table. For the average woman in leadership, this can result in almost two million dollars of lost revenue over the course of her career. This begs the question: how much are you willing to lose to avoid the discomfort of negotiating? Negotiation, while most commonly thought of for job and salary negotiations, should also be done when asking for new projects, a larger role on the team, or an opportunity for training or education. Keep in mind that negotiating is a tool to help you advance your career.

Women, in particular, face a few unique hurdles with negotiation. They often hold back from negotiating because of prevalent cultural stereotypes that tell us that women that negotiate are seen as pushy and less likeable, rather than communal and cooperative. Many women, that do negotiate, ask for less than they really want to make. It takes courage to advocate for yourself and step out of the shadow of these… Read more and comment

Mentor? Ment-Her

The #MeToo movement has taken the nation by storm, generating an onslaught of reactions and support for women around the growing number of incidents being brought to light. Suffice to say, men and women alike have expressed feelings of sadness, anger, frustration and confusion in the wake of allegations.  While the nation continues to grapple with how to provide women with security and safety in the workplace and find a path forward, a recent study surfaced an unprecedented impact of the movement.

In a survey published by Lean In and SurveyMonkey, we learn that nearly half of male managers report being uncomfortable mentoring women, socializing with them, or working alone with them.  How did we get to this point? In the midst of a #MeToo era, the number of men fearful of mentoring women has tripled.

If not swiftly addressed, and oriented into a plan of action, this fear will have lasting, detrimental effects on the advancement of women in the workplace. After all, it’s not one sole mentor women and men attribute career impact to, but a network of mentors, inclusive of men and women. As it currently stands, “Women are 54% less likely to have a sponsor … Read more and comment

Times Up: Plans Fueling Progress

A goal without a plan is just a wish- which is why an army of 300 Hollywood Women teamed up to strategize and mobilize an industry and a nation.  Powerhouses ranging from America Ferrara to Shonda Rhimes to Eva Longoria developed an actionable plan, aiming to protect women across all walks of life, from their Hollywood counterparts to female factory workers. The goal? To secure  equality across all industries, income brackets, and ethnicities.

The initiative includes: a $13M legal defense fund to protect less privileged women from systematic workplace harassment; legislation to eliminate silencing of victims; gender parity inside production studios and agencies; and a request for women walking the Golden Globes red carpet to stand united in all black attire.

Across the world, gender parity is in the spotlight. With progress ranging from Saudi Arabian women gaining the right to drive to Iceland making it illegal to pay a woman less for the same job as a male. The United States certainly lies somewhere in between, and the Times Up initiative is a promising, powerful push in the right direction.… Read more and comment