Wonder Women Round Up: Athletes, Execs and Leaders

The appearance of Wonder Woman in the new Batman v. Superman movie has gotten us thinking… will we finally have a female-led superhero movie?

Anecdotes aside, the ‘perceived value’ of a woman has been getting back on track with its intrinsic value, making venerable strides in the past couple of decades. Have we reached the point where the status (not to mention pay) of a woman at work equals that of her male counterpart?

Don’t make me laugh.

At its current rate, the gender pay gap won’t close for more than 100 years. 79 cents people. Even lower for women of color.  So, now that I’ve depressed myself and any other female reading this, is there any hope for the millennials and Gen-Zs of the world? Let’s take a look at three on-topic articles in this week’s Wonder Woman Roundup.

At the current rate, the gender pay gap won’t close for more than 100 years. Share on X

 

Silver Lining’s Playbook

Women in the workforce are not underrepresented in management per se, but at the C levels, we barely make up a sliver of the pie.

The number of female CEOs of America’s most influential companies is stuck at a 5% as it was the year before. Women make up 45% of the labor force of the S&P 500 and 50% of middle management. Few are climbing to the very top.

Where are we seeing the biggest improvement? Numbers are inching towards an egalitarian middle when female leaders possess one trait: They played athletics.

Women make up 45% of the labor force of the S&P 500 and 50% of middle management. Share on X

 

Student Athletes via Fast Co.

Gwen Moran (@gwenmoran) wrote an insightful article entitled Why Former Women Athletes Are More Engaged In Their Jobs earlier this month in FastCo. Female student athletes are being noticed as engaged and high-achieving ‘A players’ at work. Coincidence? Not a chance. Key findings were from a Gallup-Purdue study which found figures on the makeup of female athletes on the job.  

 

Among 400 women executives from five different countries:

• 42% of former student-athletes who work full-time for an employer are engaged in their jobs versus 39% of non-student athletes.

• Women who played college sports were more likely to be engaged in their jobs (48%) than men who played (38%).

• Female college graduates who played NCAA Division I, II or III sports in college are more likely to be employed full-time for an employer (62%), compared with female graduates who were not student-athletes (56%).

• In addition, a 2014 report from EY (formerly Ernst & Young) found that more than half (52%) of the 400 women surveyed played a sport at the university level, compared to 39% of women at other management levels.

Gwen then, continues to state the six lessons woman gain from playing athletics, and more specifically, highly competitive college athletics. These include conflict resolution, communication, competition, failing will, persistence and at ease being the only woman in the room. I mean, the 17 years of practicing, competing and committing of my whole life to soccer has changed how I approach and deal with everything in my professional and personal life, but I may be biased. Read all of Gwen’s points here.

42% of former student-athletes who work full-time are engaged in their jobs. Share on X

 

The Value of Women via New York Times

This one is a stinger. Claire Cain Miller (@clairecm) of the Times pulls out a mind blowing finding when talking about male dominated fields. She points out women are more educated than men, have enough work experience and are equally as likely to pursue high-paying careers. The difference? When women enter fields in greater numbers, even historically male-dominated fields mind you, PAY DECLINES — for the very same jobs that more men were doing before.

 

“It just doesn’t look like it’s as important to the bottom line or requires as much skill,” said Paula England, a sociology professor at New York University. “Gender bias sneaks into those decisions.”

 

The Findings:

When women in large numbers became designers (wages fell 34 percentage points), housekeepers (wages fell 21 percentage points) and biologists (wages fell 18 percentage points). The reverse was true when a job attracted more men. Computer programming, for instance, used to be a relatively menial role done by women. But when male programmers began to outnumber female ones, the job began paying more and gained prestige.

Read all of the findings in Claire’s article here.

 

10 Best States for Women via Benefits Pro

If you can’t beat ’em, change the location?

Benefits Pro came out with the top ten best states for women based on median earnings, access to healthcare and insurance, and entrepreneurship. Women will perpetually fight for fair pay, equal opportunity to jobs and perceived value. Let’s see where we have a chance to make it. Spoiler: Nebraska came out in the list! (That’s our home state for you who didn’t know. In the Omaha metro area? Give us a shout!)

Here are the rankings:

10. Hawaii

9. Nebraska

8. Wisconsin

7. Maryland

6. North Dakota

5. Massachusetts

4. Maine

3. New Hampshire

2. Vermont

1. Minnesota

Read the whole article here.