Blog Resmi Formadegama

By ERIN WHITE

Are more women moving into corporate boardrooms?

At least one study says yes. In the first three months of the year, 38% of new directors – 38 of 101 appointments – were women, according to data compiled by quarterly journal Directors & Boards. That's the highest number and percentage since the publication began counting in 1994.

Women's share of board appointments has been climbing for the past two years and spiked in the most recent quarter, says James Kristie, editor of Directors & Boards. For all of 2007 and 2008, it averaged about 25%; in 2006 it was 18.5%.

"We're at a new opportunity level for women to go on boards finally," says Mr. Kristie.

He sees several changes driving up the numbers. For one, it's getting harder to convince active CEOs to serve as directors at other companies, so boards are being forced to look at a broader pool of candidates, Mr. Kristie says. That's giving more women – including senior-level female executives who aren't CEOs – a better shot at a board seat. Plus, as more women get on boards, they may be opening doors to other women's candidacies, Mr. Kristie says.

The recession may also help. "You may have a lot of men executives who have perhaps lost their jobs or demurring on taking on new boards," Mr. Kristie says.

Some of the new appointees are joining big companies. Microsoft named to its board Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College; Chiquita Brands International named Kerrii Anderson, former CEO of Wendy's International; ConAgra Foods named Joie Gregor, who served as assistant to the president for presidential personnel under George W. Bush; and VF Corp. named Juliana Chugg, senior vice president at General Mills. Directors & Boards tracks every new director it notices, monitoring press releases, specialized websites and appointment announcements it receives.

Others who follow new-director appointments aren't seeing a surge. Julie Daum, who heads the North American board services practice at executive search firm Spencer Stuart, says about 20% of its director placements in the past quarter were women, up only slightly from 17% to 18% in 2008.

She does think the conditions are right for more women to come onto boards. "Boards are much more thoughtful about how they recruit – there's much more of a process in place where they define what they're looking for," she says. "Which is different from saying, 'We have an opening. Does anybody know who might be good?'"

*Diambil dari Wall Street Journal edisi 12 May 2009 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124208439032108595.html#

Oleh: Rahmat Febrianto