The House Working Group on Women in the 21st Century Workforce heard testimony this week at a hearing on how the private sector is empowering women to overcome barriers to success.
Policy experts, business leaders and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies testified on the effective practices they have implemented for their female employees, such as increasing workplace flexibility, providing caregiving options, or addressing residual bias.
“As part of this working group’s mission to dig into the root causes of the barriers that women face, we want to study what businesses have already done to ensure that their female employees can achieve their full potential. Wherever women succeed, businesses will succeed,” Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) chair of the working group, said in her opening statement. “The private sector is the innovation engine of our economy and more private sector businesses and organizations than ever are recognizing that training, promoting, and retaining women is essential to their continued competitiveness—and their bottom line. That’s why our focus today is businesses on the cutting-edge of empowering women and producing opportunity for them to succeed.”
Debbie Maples, vice president of global loss prevention and corporate security at Gap, said her company became the first Fortune 500 Company to pay female and male employees equally for equal work in 2014.
“Gap Inc.’s mission is to advance women in the workplace,” Maples said. “We recognize that employees need flexibility to balance work and life responsibilities. Based on our experience with these efforts, the benefits of implementing flexible work programs are undeniable: production turnover dropped by 50%, employee engagement scores improved by 13%, and several hundred thousand dollars in savings were realized by reduced employee turnover costs. At Gap Inc., we know that our business succeeds when everyone has the chance to stand as equals and thrive.”
Kymberlee Dwinell, director of global diversity and inclusion at Northrop Grumman Corporation, said a diverse workforce is critical to the company’s success.
“Companies with three or more women in senior management functions scored higher in key factors of leadership, accountability and innovation than companies with no women at the top across nine standard criteria of organizational excellence,” Dwinell said. “It’s clear that private sector support of women in the workforce, especially in leadership roles, is important for a successful business. Companies like Northrop Grumman understand the value of providing additional support to women in the company, as well as young girls across the world. Diversity is truly a strategic asset.”
While noting that companies are making attempts, Donna Ginther, professor of economics at the University of Kansas, said there is a lack of policies to support women and mothers who work.
“The United States lags behind other developed economies in the policies we have to support women in the workforce. One of the keys to growing women’s wages and improving the economic outcomes is creating an environment that enables women to participate in the labor market while they have children,” Ginther said.
Brian Barkdull, CEO of American Southwest Credit Union, said its part of his company’s culture to accommodate the needs of his workforce.
““We have always had about an 85-90% female workforce,” Barkdull said. “What I have learned over the years is that life happens: day care issues, sick kids, doctor appointments, sports events, band, dance practice, classroom presentations, maternity-related events, or community participation. What is our culture? We accommodate. We have high quality service standards and demanding strategic initiatives, so we continually strive to find the right balance for our workforce.”