Breaking Through

Chapter 6Inclusive Leadership

Interview with Deborah Gillis, President and CEO of Catalyst

It's time to redefine leadership for today's working world and build workforces and leadership teams that look like the communities we serve.

What is the role of women in today's economic world?

Women hold enormous economic power. They make up almost half the labor force in the United States, outpace men in earning advanced degrees, and control 73 percent of all household spending. Yet there's been glacial progress in closing the pay gap and advancing women to more senior roles. Less than 5 percent of CEOs in S&P 500 companies are women, and according to our 2014 Catalyst Census: Women Board Directors, women hold only 19.2 percent of board seats in S&P 500 companies. And while it seems obvious that women and men should be paid equally across all industries and regions, women still earn less than their male peers despite identical backgrounds, education, and experience. Catalyst research shows that women earn $4,600 less than men from their very first post-MBA job, a gap that widens with time. I first started talking about the pay gap as a high school senior, and it's frustrating to see that the gap has narrowed only marginally since that time.

Women still earn less than their male peers despite identical backgrounds, education, and experience.

But I'm confident that change is on the horizon. In my extensive travels around the world for Catalyst, I've seen a greater public ...