Women to Watch

The Wall Street Journal this week released it's annual report on Women to Watch in the year ahead. You can listen to the podcast here. The number of women holding senior corporate positions hasn't changed much in the last few years. However women are making their mark not just at companies with large numbers of female customers but also in manufacturing, chemicals and technology. Leading the list is Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Ms. Gates interest in math and science is key to her learning about the science behind the afflictions and treatments the organization focuses on. Carol Bartz, executive chairman of Autodesk, believes one of the things that holds women back is they are dropping out of math and science at the fifth or sixth grade. At a very young age girls are starting to limit their opportunities in any technical field which takes away many of the job opportunities available in today's world. Girls are being shortchanged by teachers, parents and peers who dissuade them from a challenging path at an age when they should be encouraged to explore and succeed at every opportunity. One of the questions the WSJ raises itself is should they be spotlighting women once a year afterall the paper doesn't have a 50 Men to Watch report? I'm glad the WSJ recognizes that it is important to bring these women to the forefront once a year, that it's good to have a conversation about what obstacles women face in the workplace, strides that have been made and what needs to be done. Maybe some girl somewhere will see 50 successful women's faces and think I can do that, I can lead Pepsico or ADM or Kraft, I can do anything.