Women bump corporate ceiling p. 101

By: George Garneau

WOMEN ARE MAKING it into the top ranks of management at newspapers, but not at the corporations that own newspapers, according to a study.
The study by Robert Picard, professor at California State University, Fullerton, reviewed 562 top positions at 19 publicly held newspaper companies and found only 11.6%, or 65 jobs, held by women.
"The fact that less than 12% of corporate positions are held by women stands in stark contrast to the fact that about 45% of all newspaper employees and 40% of newsroom employees are women," Picard said.
After analyzing directors, chairmen, CEOs, presidents, chiefs of subsidiaries, several varieties of vice presidents and others, he found no chairwomen, and no women as CEOs or presidents.
But Picard did find 28 women board members (12.4%), two women leading subsidiaries (4%), 21 female vice presidents (17.4%), and 10 women holding other corporate executive jobs (20%).
In other words, the higher up the corporate ladder you go, the rarer women become, Picard said.
While women are increasingly getting vice presidential titles, the jobs are not stepping stones to higher positions, he said.
Picard identified four companies with no women in top positions: American Publishing Co., Central Newspapers Inc., Harte-Hanks Communications Inc. and Media General Inc.
Frank Russell, president and CEO of Central Newspapers, conceded that everybody on the eight-person board and the 12-person corporate staff is male, except for the secretary.
"We are always looking for ladies to serve on the board and make a contribution," he said. "We haven't done it yet, but we don't have a policy against it. We're all for it." He added that 30% of executives at Central's newspapers are women.
At the other end of the spectrum, Dow Jones & Co., Gannett Co., New York Times Co. and Knight-Ridder Inc. ? together accounting for nearly half the women execs tallied ? are the industry's most active supporters of programs to train and promote those who are not male caucasians, according to Picard.
Asked to explain the dearth of women in newspaper corporate management in general, Russell of Central Newspapers said, "I never thought of it. I always felt we were doing a pretty good job."