Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Collegiate
Case
Study www.usatodaycollege.com
Did glass ceiling just slam down?
Full life: Gloria Steinem has traveled the world, but home is a "Maybe it's sexist to talk about what she looks like, but,
New York apartment she shares with her dog, Moji. Jesus, she's a fox," says the band's lead singer, Kathleen
Hanna, 36. "I think part of that comes from keeping things
I was shocked to find that there was a 70-year-old woman interesting in your life and still having this glow about you."
in my bed."
Steinem calls aging "the greatest adventure of our lives."
Yes, the founder of Ms. magazine is now 70, and yes, this
is what 70 looks like. "Think, 'What do I do that when I'm doing it I forget what
time it is? What is there that I don't care whether get I paid
That is, if you happen to be Steinem, whose looks may be for or not? What is it that I'm really motivated and excited
as famous as her politics. Her early fame came in a 1963 by?' And do that."
expose about her experience working as a bunny at New
York's Playboy Club. She went on to write four feminist Like talking to students and activists and traveling the
books and countless articles and estabish the 1971 National world to help with myriad causes, including fighting for the
Women's Political Caucus and the Ms. Foundation. rights of women, gays, animals and indigenous people. And
continuing to write.
These days, her soulful brown eyes are surrounded by a
few more lines; no cosmetic surgery here. But with her Asked whether she has plans to retire, she retorts: "What
trademark straight hair and penchant for faux-leather pants would I retire from? Life?"
(she has been a vegetarian for 16 years), Steinem still has
the leggy looks of a rock star — and enough edginess to Yes, she'd like to take some time off and stay in her
bring a room full of punk rockers to their feet. She did that Manhattan home long enough to write a book about her
in November when she introduced the feminist punk band years on the road — about an America that she says often
But now, of course, she can talk about the personal side
of aging.
The 80's: Steinem, left, has marched for many causes, including Steinem and her brand of "women's lib" once were fodder
the 1986 National March for Women's Lives. for dinner table debates across America — and prompted
critics such as Rush Limbaugh to call her a "feminazi."
remains hidden. But she hasn't been home long enough to
write it. She may no longer land in the headlines every time she
says something controversial. But if you think she's
"There's just too much work to be done," she says. spending her golden years reminiscing, think again.
"Unfortunately, I respond to emergencies more than I make
an agenda." Supporting herself with speeches and writing, Steinem is
so busy she requires two assistants just to help her keep up
Says her friend Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the with all the requests for speaking and help. In the fall, she
Cherokee Nation: "When she hears about a problem, it crisscrossed the country in an RV, campaigning for Kerry on
becomes her own. She'll help individuals. She'll help her own dime, and she energized adoring crowds last year
organizations. She'll help movements. She'll help nations. at the March for Women's Lives in Washington. That was
She just feels engaged with the world around her." just four months after her husband of three years,
entrepreneur, environmentalist and animal activist David
That attitude prompted the San Francisco-based Pacific Bale, 62, died of primary brain lymphoma.
Institute, which focuses on aging, to invite her to speak —
and to republish an essay Steinem wrote about turning 60, His death made her "realize in a profound way the
with a new introduction about life at 70. It will be out difference between sadness and depression," she says. "In
in May. depression, nothing matters." In sadness and grief,
"everything matters. Everything was more poignant."
"We preach that aging can be meaningful, that aging can
be wise and doesn't need to be only about decay," the 'Sounds like mortality'
institute's Doris Bersing says. "It can be about growth. And
that's what she has shown." She knows she won't live forever.
Steinem, she adds, "is a wonderful icon to show you can "Fifty was more about defiance for me: 'I'm just going to
be old and still kick (butt)." go on doing everything I did before.' And it wasn't until I
was about 54 that I realized that doing everything I did
Given U.S. demographics — 79 million baby boomers before was not progress. Hello? And 60 was exciting. Sixty
about to embark on 60 — Steinem predicts "a movement was like the new country. And 70 does sound like mortality.
toward reinventing the role of the elders." And it does make you think about dying."
But don't expect her to lead it. She'd rather keep leading Still, "she has never talked about growing older,"
Mankiller says. "She's never talked about shifting down Responds Steinem, "If Ann Coulter said anything positive
because of age." about me, I'd know I was doing something very wrong."
Now might be the time to be thinking of her legacy and Feminism is far from dead, she adds: "By no measure
how people will view the feminist movement of the late have we arrived. It will take more than 30 years for men to
20th century. raise children as much as women do, and at the rate we're
going, even longer for women to earn as much."
Her fans wax poetic, saying Steinem helped improve the
status of women in society. She's not concerned about how history will view her.
Her detractors — and there are many — say the "Legacy is out of my control by definition," she says.
feminist movement — much like the Equal Rights
Amendment — failed. Instead, she focuses on helping younger women "do what
they want to do. It's like watching someone be born.
In her 2002 book Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Watching someone blossom and discover their talents. It's
Right, conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter writes: really very satisfying."
"Steinem's influence was limited to a narrow sliver of
liberal women living in big cities. It just happened to be the
sliver that controls the news and pop culture."
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005, PAGE 3B
In Wall Street's version of "don't let the screen door hit H-P was by far the largest company with a female CEO,
you on the way out," H-P's stock rose 7% in a down market. which created media hype. Had Fiorina succeeded, it could
have opened wide the doors for women, but now any board professional women's lifetime earnings are still $400,000
director on the fence has an excuse not to take the chance, below men's. Female scientists doing medical research, for
Sandler said. example, earned 29% less than men.
H-P ranks 11th on the Fortune 500. Rite Aid, run by Mary That's no surprise to Warren Farrell, the only man to have
Sammons, is way back at No. 128, leaving no mega- been elected three times to the National Organization for
company with a female CEO just when women's climb up Women's New York board of directors and author of Why
the ladder may be stalling. Consider: Men Earn More. Farrell says there are 25 reasons men
advance further, including willingness to put in longer
v No Fortune 500 company has hired a female CEO since hours, travel more and relocate. Women are still 50 times
June 2003, when a housecleaning at scandal-ridden Rite as likely to stay home with children, and working women
Aid boosted Sammons to the top. The total has dropped to are eight times as likely to spend four years or more out of
seven for the first time in two years. Mirant has been in the labor force, he says, adding that men show their love of
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since July 2003, leading family as breadwinners. He predicts any slowing in
to press reports speculating that CEO Marce Fuller's days progress by women in business will be temporary, not
are numbered. because women will become more like men but because
men will insist on more balance between work and
v The stock of the eight largest companies run by personal lives.
women rose 2.2% in 2004 vs. a 9% rise in all S&P 500 stocks,
according to a USA TODAY analysis. Golden West Financial Some experts still see the glass as half full. Women's
and Avon Products, run by Andrea Jung, have been firing on progress is anything but glacial, the Employment Policy
all cylinders for a long time. Mirant, Lucent Technologies Foundation says. More than 9 million women earned more
and Rite Aid have been spending a lot of time under $2 a than the median male income in 2002. Ten years earlier it
share, although Lucent's Patricia Russo and Xerox's was just 5.5 million. The foundation says women who have
Mulcahy appear to have engineered turnarounds. Part of never married are far more likely to out-earn men,
the problem, Sandler says, is that women seem more showing that lifestyle choices more than gender are the
willing than men to accept CEO jobs at companies determining factor.
in distress.
Fiorina is gone, not because she's a woman but because
v An index released last March by the Committee of 200, she may have been too much like a man, says Ronna
an organization of female business owners and corporate Lichtenberg, author of Pitch Like a Girl. There are two
leaders, showed disappointing progress by women in 10 leadership styles. Pink emphasizes relationships, and blue is
areas, including business ownership, corporate board seats, task-focused, which she describes as "getting the job done
the size of female-run businesses, the lack of venture and I may talk to you later."
capital funding, wage gaps and invitations to be keynote
speakers at major events. Not all women are pink leaders, nor are all men blue.
Fiorina was blue, and she may have run out of time because
Even the committee's measure of MBA enrollment at top she had not developed strong relationships with the board
business schools slipped nearly 5% from 2003 to 2004. The and other leaders at H-P, Lichtenberg said.
index of all 10 measures has gone up about 9% each of the
last two years, but the score is just 4.7; a 10 would signal
parity with men.
The transition could be tough for H-P. The company had Fiorina, who came to H-P in 1999 from telecom
been expected to benefit from IBM's decision to sell its equipment maker Lucent Technologies, was a polarizing
$20
Sources: CSI, Bloomberg and USA TODAY research By Robert W. Ahrens, USA TODAY
figure practically from the first day. Wayman to "do something just signed a partnership with H-P as
She was a slick marketer inhabiting an extraordinary" to win over a bank part of his new job with software
office formerly held by technologists. thinking of voting its shares against maker UGS. "She has that kind of
She was willing to tinker with the "H- the deal. The message, later leaked to presence about her — it may be
P Way" — the company's once- the press, garnered Fiorina criticism comparable to what I've heard about
sacrosanct corporate culture. and time in court. But she won her Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton."
case, and the merger was completed
Her changes helped revitalize H-P, in 2002. Once the fight was over, Fiorina didn't run into real trouble
says Stephen Mader, a vice chairman Fiorina was praised for the skill and until H-P's results started to suffer. In
at Christian & Timbers, the executive speed with which she integrated the the summer, its big-business
search firm H-P used to hire her. "The two companies. computer division reported a
greatest fear in 1999 was that things surprising loss. The Compaq merger
wouldn't change very much," he said. Within H-P, there are two views of has done little to boost H-P's stock,
Fiorina. Some say she hung onto and critics say the deal has failed to
In 2001, Fiorina made her boldest power by removing competitors. produce expected benefits. It's gotten
move by agreeing to acquire Compaq During her term, many high-ranking so bad that H-P may be forced to
Computer. The $18 billion deal executives, including former Compaq write off some of the value of the
sparked protests from many CEO Michael Capellas, former Compaq deal's intangible benefits, known as
shareholders, who argued Compaq CFO Jeff Clarke, sales executives Jim goodwill, Wall Street analysts say.
would weaken H-P. Walter Hewlett, Milton and Peter Blackmore and
an H-P board member and son of the storage head Howard Elias, were Another factor behind the board's
company's co-founder, led the forced out or fired. decision to act may be Dunn's
opposition. The result was a brutal improving health after a battle with
proxy fight that took eight months Others say that's not so. "I never cancer. Dunn used to be global CEO at
and cost both sides millions. saw this aspect of 'Anybody who was Barclays Global Investors, the giant
a rising star would get expunged,' " mutual fund manager based in
Fiorina used sheer will to pull the Milton says. He says he holds his San Francisco.
deal through and keep her job. In an former boss in high regard. "She's
11th-hour phone call, she urged very charismatic," says Milton, who Much like Fiorina, Dunn, 51, is
tenacious. She rose to the top at together," says equity analyst Bill is an operational fix by someone who
Barclays after starting as a temporary Fearnley Jr. at FTN Midwest Securities. can make an "improvement in
secretary. She was not a major player But so far that strategy has done little bottom-line profitability." Layoffs are
in the Compaq battle because she was to boost profits, he says. expected in some divisions, as
fighting breast cancer and malignant previously announced, Wayman says,
melanoma. Being all things to all computer though H-P may be hiring in
buyers puts H-P in a tough spot. For other areas.
But she has been healthier — thus big business contracts, it must
more assertive in the boardroom — in compete with IBM. The tech giant It's hard to say who H-P's next CEO
recent months, sources close to the makes most of its money from might be. Fiorina had no strong No. 2.
board say. lucrative consulting services, while H- The leading internal candidate is
P relies on hardware — computers Vyomesh Joshi, H-P's head of printers
Dunn says she and fellow board and printers — with much lower and PCs. But stock analysts say Joshi
members have discussed Fiorina's fate profit margins. may not have enough computer
for several weeks. They brought in experience. Dunn says the board is
Columbia University professor John At the same time, H-P must fight off focusing on external candidates.
Coffee and powerful Silicon Valley Dell, which has a low-cost model that
lawyer Larry Sonsini to assist allows it to continue to steal market Dell CEO Kevin Rollins has the
deliberations. "There were no share. Unlike H-P, Dell doesn't sell its operational know-how to attack H-P's
triggering events," she says. computers in stores. It keeps costs internal problems, but there's a good
low and inventories down by selling chance he won't want to leave his
A portfolio of businesses PCs and servers over the Internet and post at the No. 1 PC maker, says
via phone. By doing so, it can Gartner PC analyst Martin Reynolds.
As unhappy as board members were undercut H-P. Capellas, another possible candidate,
with Fiorina's performance, they're might not want to come back.
not departing from the business plan Milunovich says H-P's money-
she laid out. Under Fiorina, H-P has making printer division may be worth H-P needs to look outside the
touted itself as a broad-based much more as a separate company. technology industry to find the strong
technology company that benefits Breaking up H-P would allow it to candidate it needs to turn the
from selling everything from paper to focus on its other businesses, though company around, says Christian &
powerful servers. Wayman calls the the best time for that kind of breakup Timber's Mader. "I think it will be
strategy "a portfolio of businesses." might be several years out, someone that no one expects,"
Milunovich says. he says.
"The board appears to be committed
to making all the parts work Wayman says what H-P really needs Contributing: Jim Hopkins
Barely two years had passed before she resurfaced as 1975 business and economics graduate of Augustana
interim chief operating officer of Starwood Hotels & College in Rock Island, Ill., she started out making $10,000 a
Resorts. She was recruited as a director to Staples, Sears, year with Wilson Sporting Goods. PepsiCo later divested
The New York Times Co. and Avon Products. Wilson, but Barnes remained with Pepsi for 22 years.
Barnes joined Sara Lee as chief operating officer six There were whispers that she was in the race to be Pepsi's
months ago. CEO when she tired of the 70-hour weeks and 3:30 a.m.
alarms so she could work at home before getting her
Sara Lee is a consumer product conglomerate that sells children up at 7.
everything from Jimmy Dean sausage to Wonderbras to
Kiwi shoe polish. It replaces H-P as the largest company Most everyone at Pepsi tried to persuade her to stay,
with a female CEO — at least until its planned spinoff of including husband Randy Barnes, who was a company
businesses that will cut its revenue from $19.6 billion in senior vice president and treasurer.
fiscal year 2004 to $11.5 billion and drop it about 70 on the
Fortune 500 ladder to about No. 170. "It is about parenthood, not womanhood," Barnes told
National Public Radio at the time.
Barnes grew up in Chicago, one of seven children. Her
father was a factory worker, her mother a homemaker. A
1.Do women who are accomplished and successful in their fields see that promoting and mentoring younger women is an
opportunity and a responsibility? Are there still more men who are willing to mentor women than women? Is there a
difference in advice and mentoring that comes with gender?
2. Warren Farrell, author of "Why Men Earn More" poses 25 reasons why men advance further than women in
business and concludes in part it is because women opt for a more favorable work-life balance. Do women have to "give
up" more than men to be successful CEOs?
3. Do your think there is an unfair amount of comparison between a new first female CEO and her predecessor than a
new male CEO and his predecessor? What elements do you think factor into the comparison?
4. What elements are used universally to measure the success of a CEO in any organization? Are these different
depending upon the gender of the CEO?
5. Does the media focus on the same issues when reporting on news related to women CEOs as they do when reporting
on men? Does the media play a role in promoting the success/lack of success of a CEO? Is the public as willing to credit
women with success as they are men?
6. It is stated that women are more willing than men to take on the CEO position of a company that is in distress. What is
the rationale - is it the natural instinct to "make something better" or it is a matter of believing this is all that might be
available to them? Similarly, in the academic world, women often state they would like to be the president of a small
university or college. Is this a matter of confidence, or not thinking big enough - or?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Couglin, L. et al. (2005) Enlightened Power: How Women Are Transforming the Practice of Leadership. San Franciso:
Jossey-Bass.
Helgesen, S. (1995) The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership. New York: Doubleday.
Wilson, M.C. (2004) Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World. New York: Viking.
Zichy, S. (2001) Women and the Leadership Q: The Breakthrough System for Achieving Power & Influence. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
1. How does one prepare women of the future for success as CEOs? Are there different
tactics/strategies that need to be adopted by women that would not be characteristic for men? Should
women expect to find the pathway more difficult?
2. It has been said that women, themselves, are critical of women in high level positions. Is this
accurate, and if so, why is this the case and how can it be changed?
3. Do you think widely publicized, unfortunate experiences of women CEOs (e.g., Carly Fiorina) have an
impact on the hiring of women into other CEO positions? Has anyone suggested that gender was an
issue in the downfall of the CEOs in the Enron and WorldCom situations? Would gender have been
considered if women had led the companies and the same situations had arisen? Alternatively, do you
think these crises might offer an advantage to women for consideration of CEO positions?