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February 10, 2005
One Down, Only Seven Left At The Top of Fortune 500 Companies
According to the Chicago Tribune, with Carleton Fiorina being fired from her job as CEO of HP-Compaq, there are only 7 remaining females leading Fortune 500 Companies. That means female CEOs are 1.4% of the top level positions in Fortune 500 companies.
You might try to tell me that's because women haven't been in the workforce as long as men. Which is a bunch of hogwash, but even if we're only referring to paid work, women have been in business as long as they've been in the legal field, correct? And if we assume the Supreme Court is the height of power in the legal realm, than the fact that two of nine Supreme Court Justices are female equals 22.22% female inclusion in the upper echelon of power in that field.
I can't debate the merits of letting Fiorina go. I can direct you to the extremely well researched article in the NYT by John Markoff with contributions by Laurie Flynn and Gretchen Morgenson. I believe that the management style that got Fiorina the job ultimately caused her to be let go. I don't believe she was hired or fired because of her gender, and I believe that's a good thing.
I remember when Fiorina got the job - she was a true inspiration to me and my fellow college seniors. After all, she started out not knowing what she wanted to do with her life - had some odd jobs, went to law school and dropped out after a year and went back and got an MBA and a Master's of Science. She was MIT's class of 2000 commencement speaker, a fact I rued bitterly since my commencement speaker was my class dean. (I felt we deserved another speaker. After all, the class dean always speaks at Swellesley graduations. According to the college, our dean was being honored because she was retiring.)
I'm rambling off point. My real point is that I wish Fiorina the best in her future endeavors. I think her $21 million severance package is lower than other CEO severance packages, but clearly enough that I'm not worried about her going hungry. And I hope to see more female CEOs of major corporations in the near future.
Posted by cj at February 10, 2005 1:13 PM
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