Women’s organizations need unified focus
By Kelemarie Lyons, for SBT
Women in power. What does that phrase connote? For some, it’s a trite statement that makes your eyes glaze over and leaves you thinking, "Oh no, not another ‘girlie’ cause."
For others, it’s a rally cry and a call to action.
No matter, the reality is that having more women in "power" positions is simply good for business.
During recent months, Milwaukee has seen a rise of interest in the issue of women in business.
The Women’s Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee, Professional Dimensions, Tempo and Cardinal Stritch University have each sponsored events or studies to address the cause.
A new organization, "Milwaukee Women Inc.," was created to improve women’s leadership opportunities.
Notably, about 300 people attended the "Women and Power in Milwaukee" luncheon sponsored by Professional Dimensions and Tempo. Various research findings were released at the event last month, including:
— Wisconsin ranks 36th nationally for participation of women in managerial and professional occupations.
— Within the 30 largest publicly traded companies, women comprise less than 10% of board membership, and 2% of boards are comprised of women of color.
— About 68% of women participate in the Wisconsin labor force (only two states have higher percentages).
— Wisconsin women earn 65.3% of what Wisconsin men earn.
— Women-owned businesses are growing at twice the comparable rate for all privately held businesses, but venture capital has failed to keep pace.
"There’s been a lot of talk about ‘women in leadership’ lately. In fact, we’ve got a lot of energy. Let’s harness it," says Christine Grota, director of YWCA programming. "We want to move from talk to action."
In fact, the YWCA has included the advancement of women in business in the organization’s "ends" policies.
The goal is two fold: 1) To see more women in corporate leadership; and 2) To increase the number of women in government leadership positions as well as corporate and community boards.
"We believe that if those ends were met, the word would be a different and, maybe, a better place," Grota says.
The YWCA is poised to take a "facilitating" role to unify the missions of the local women’s organizations.
"No one entity can or should do everything." Grota says. "We need to solidify the issues, find champions and organize the collective energy of all women’s associations to move forward."
Wendy Werkmeister, president of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. (WWBIC), says, "There’s a swelling of the acknowledgement and importance of women in everything."
Women-owned businesses are growing at twice the rate of those owned by men. Yet, with women, on average, earning 69 cents to every dollar a man earns, Werkmeister says, "I can’t believe we don’t have riots in the street."
But how can southeastern Wisconsin ensure this is not a passing fad? How can the area align the efforts of all of the women’s organizations with a focused agenda that will stimulate real and substantial change?
"We need to focus on continually better communicating this information to the world, policy makers, funders, corporations and the labor force," Werkmeister says.
Jill Morin of 3CO and Kahler Slater Architecture is a board member of Milwaukee Women Inc.
"We’re committed to changing the face of leadership in Milwaukee through sponsoring research and collaborating with other groups like the MMAC (Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce) and the Greater Milwaukee Committee," Morin says. "And I’m hopeful all organizations will take up the challenge. It simply makes good business sense."
In sum, it’s just "good business" to encourage diversity in the Milwaukee business scene. Whether as individuals or professional associations, all can work toward a better southeastern Wisconsin by constantly looking in the mirror to weigh the progress in becoming a diverse business community.
KeleMarie Lyons is the founder of Pinnacle XL Inc., a management consulting company with offices in Milwaukee and Chicago. She can be reached at kelemarie@pinnaclexl.com.
Feb. 21, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
