ANNENBERG STUDY FINDS FEW WOMEN AT TOP JOBS IN INDUSTRY
Women still hold few executive or board positions in communications companies, according to 2nd annual Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) study issued Tues. There’s been little change since last year’s study, said ex-FCC Comr. Susan Ness, dir. of APPC’s Information & Society Section. “The results continue to be appalling,” she said at news conference. “With few exceptions, we have not moved beyond tokenism in the number of women in top leadership positions or serving on the boards,” she said. Study reported 2001 figures, based on annual reports and Web sites.
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At 10 top media conglomerates, women constituted 14% of executives and 13% of dirs., study said. APPC said Fox Entertainment and USA Networks had no women among their top executives. Clear Channel and AMC Entertainment had no women on their boards. At 23 largest telecom and cable companies, women represented 12% of dirs. and 16% of executives. Telecom company NTL and cable provider Adelphia listed no women executives or board members in their 2001 annual reports. SBC had one of best records with women comprising 29% of board members and 24% of top executives.
Ness said there had been some improvement in number of women invited to give speeches or otherwise were highlighted at industry conferences and meetings. For example, 2 women spoke in either general or keynote sessions at CTIA’s annual Wireless 2002 conference in March while no women had done so in 2000, APPC report said. Three female speakers were featured at SuperComm 2002 sponsored by USTA and Telecom Industry Assn., compared with none in 2000. Four women spoke at NCTA’s 2002 conference. Ness said NCTA also added 2 women to its board after APPC report came out last year. Another possible improvement is apparent increase in women heading operational units of companies. However, it’s hard to pin down those numbers and compare because companies report such jobs differently, Ness said.
“Ironically,” she said, women may benefit from upheaval in industry, including both financial problems and mergers. Regulators often require spinoffs of subsidiaries during merger review, opening spots for women on boards or executive positions, she said. Legislation calling for revival of tax credits could expand number of women and minorities appointed to such positions during mergers, Ness said. However, Insight Communications Pres. Kim Kelly, also speaking at news conference, said she didn’t support tax credits to encourage female or minority ownership. Appointing people to specifically meet minority or female requirement “too often results in the appointment of ‘front’ individuals,” she said. In answer to question, Ness said even industry bankruptcies could be positive for women because many troubled companies would reorganize. With corporate governance under scrutiny, some executives are likely to be replaced by newcomers, she said: “They should not be chosen, however, solely to add diversity.” Ness said lack of progress since last year was indication that “passage of time is not enough, there needs to commitment at the top” to train and seek out qualified women.
Ness said it might be assumed that low percent of women at “old-line” companies represented “old boy network” but similar results were found at new e-companies. Women accounted for 18% of executives and 8% of board members at 13 top e-companies, she said. Two had no women among top executives and 7 had no women on board. E Trade Group had highest percent of executives, 33% and eBay, headed by woman, had biggest representation on board, 29%. -- Edie Herman
Rankings…
Percent of women executives at top entertainment conglomerates, according to survey, with percent of women board members in parenthesis: Gemstar-TVGuide -- 25% (8%) Clear Channel -- 24% (0%) Viacom -- 20% (11%) General Electric -- 17% (19%) Walt Disney -- 15% (25%) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- 13% (8%) AMC Entertainment -- 6% (0%) AOL Time Warner -- 6% (7%) Fox Entertainment Group -- 0% (13%) USA Networks -- 0% (25%)
Percent of women executives at largest telecom and cable providers, ranked by percent of women executives, with percent of women board members in parentheses: AT&T -- 25% (13%) SBC -- 24% (29%) BellSouth -- 20% (15%) Verizon -- 19% (13%) Nextel -- 16% (10%) Qwest -- 14% (14%) Comcast -- 13% (10%) Cablevision Systems -- 12% (8%) EchoStar -- 11% (13%) Sprint -- 8% (11%) Charter -- 6% (13%) Adelphia -- 0% (0%) Alltel -- 0% (7%) NTL -- 0% (0%) WorldCom -- 0% (9%)
Percent of women executives at commercial broadcast and cable networks: NBC -- 44% ABC News -- 42% CNN -- 37% CBS News -- 33% CNBC -- 33% Fox News -- 8% MSNBC -- 0%
Percent of women executives at trade associations (information wasn’t available for CTIA) APTS -- 37% RTNDA -- 35% Cable & Telecom Assn. for Marketing -- 32% USTA -- 17% NAB -- 15% CompTel -- 11% OPASTCO -- 10% Satellite Bcstg. & Communication Assn. of America -- 8% Telecom Industry Assn. -- 8% NCTA -- 6% Assn. of Local TV Stations -- 5% National Telecom Co-op Assn. -- 0% PCIA -- 0%