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Published December 23, 2009 on
Countries Winning with Women
Katty Kay and Claire Shipman argued in
their book Womenonomics that “There's a sound business reason why Norway
now mandates that corporate boards be 40 percent female. And why Hermes,
the only French company to outperform expectations during the recession,
also has, you guessed it, a management structure dominated by women.”
“Iceland's spectacular meltdown was
caused by a banking and business culture that was reckless and
overwhelmingly male,” explained Ruth Sunderland, business editor of The
Observer. She wrote about the forty-something generation of women now
running the country. “They are committed to reinvent business and
society by injecting values of openness, fairness and social
responsibility.” A lesson many U. S. companies could learn from.
According to Kay and Shipman, “New
research says a healthy dose of estrogen may be the key not only to our
fiscal recovery, but also to economic strength worldwide.”
“Women-owned businesses are a driving
force in the national economy, generating $2 trillion in sales and
employing
13 million people,” said Linda Denny, WBENC (Women Business Enterprise
National Council) President and CEO.
“10.1 million companies in the U.S. are women-owned firms.”
“Nevertheless, we believe that as this
recession abates, women not only will represent one of the largest
market opportunities in our lifetimes, but also will be an important
force in spurring a recovery and generating new prosperity,” said
Michael Silverstein and Kate Sayre.˛
Read Part 1: The United
States: What Companies Have Done Wrong and How They Can Fix Them
Read Part 3: Empowering
Women for Economic Growth |
