fbpx

Interview Patty

In Fast Moving World, We Need to Speed Up on Gender Equality

As we march toward the chilly end of another year, the world as we know it is changing so fast that it's hard to keep up.

We now have planes that can take us to the edge of outer space -- though we've learned such feats come with risk.

We have new threats like Ebola and ISIS that few of us even knew about a year ago -- but we're now battling back with new treatments and new strategies.

We've just finished another election in which we invested hundreds of millions of dollars to try to affect change in Washington -- although we won't know if we've done better or worse for our country for months or years to come.

Throughout all of this change, we've also taken some steps toward improve gender equity in our businesses and organizations.

Women now hold a record 5.2 percent of CEO jobs at Fortune 500 companies.

When the next Congress opens in January, we'll have a record number of women -- 100 -- in the House and Senate.

We're inching closer toward reducing the gender gap in pay inequity between men and women.

All of these steps are good steps in the right direction, of course.

But let's be honestly clear here: They're baby steps. Embarrassingly small baby steps.

That percentage of women CEOs? That's up a whopping one percentage point from two years ago. That's just sad.

Those 100 members of Congress? Up from 99 in the previous Congress. As Politico puts it: "So what?" It's appalling that women still account for less than 19 percent of the Congress -- a Congress that's supposed to be representative of a population that happens to be 50 percent women.

And about closing that pay equity gap? We narrowed it by a miniscule 1 percent this year, according to the World Economic Forum. Women still earn only about two-thirds of what men earn for similar work. That's shameful for the United States, which ranks an embarrassing 65th in wage equality among the 142 countries tracked by the World Economic Forum.

In a world that's changing with dizzying speed, women's equality is still moving along at a glacial pace.

Real change requires bigger steps. More risk. More investment in programs to mentor, sponsor, train and keep good women in the workplace.

America needs a commitment to change, like we had with the Moon Shot program in the 1960s and like entrepreneurs are doing with commercial space travel today.

Read the full article at:  huffingtonpost.com

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

03-Business-continuation-for-women-in-Houston

Growth strategies for small business.

Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, Financial strategies for small business, Small business consulting in Houston, Business management consultant, Business, Consulting, Women, Entrepreneurs, Houston, Coach, Growth, Strategies, Coaching, Continuation, Owned, Owner, Financial, Consulting, Management

Building Blocks

7941 Katy Fwy. #414
Houston, TX 77024 USA

© 2024 The Block Group Inc. All rights reserved.  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer