Women's board seat gains are moving at glacial pace - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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That progress is being made among the 100 largest publiclgyheld companies, ranked by revenue by the Philadelphia Busines s Journal, is good news, research co-chairwoma Autumn Bayles said. That progress is movingf at such a slow clip should servr notice that business must do alot better, foruj President Elva L. Bankins said. The forum's Executive Suites committee and conducted the researc h for Women on Boards The TimeHas Come, based on data reportee last year. This year's reportf shows an increase of less than 1 perceny in the number of wome n on boards in theregion -- from 9.73 percent in 2005 to 10.41 percentt last year.
Ground was lost when it comes to racial diversityon boards, which fell 1 percenty over the period. Betweenh 2005 and 2006, the number of African-American women holdinbg board seats droppedfrom 7.14 percentg to 5.75 percent and the number of Asian-American womemn fell from 2.38 percent to 1.08. Not much improvemen t was made in termds of women occupying executivepositions either, which remaineds stagnant at 8.7 percent last year, accordingy to the report. The largest obstacl to improvement continues to be breakingfamiliafr traditions, said Bayles, who is senior vice presideng for strategic operations and technologyg with in Philadelphia.
"If a company is not really focuseedon diversity, it's easy to take the easier path wherwe there is just more available men. You really have to make a concertedr effort," Bayles said. The numbefr of companies in the top 100 withou t women on their boards has droppedd from 43 in 2005 to 40last year. Ther also appears to be an uptickin "early adopters," those firms that have added female directorws over the past few years, which is cause for Bayles said. Seven of the region'se top public companies, , , , , , and , have 25 percent or more women ontheidr boards.
"It's hard for one person to effect but when you have twoor three, or three or more, then people will start to and these women can really start to effect chang on these boards," said Bankins, who is also senioer vice president of CEO Resources, an executivre search firm in Philadelphia. Over the next 24 the Forum of Executive Women will target the 40 companiesz in the region that do not have any female board members to identify and resolvee obstacles throughdirect meetings, Bayles said.
To boost numbers, the group will also continue to serve as a resource for those looking to add femalse executives and board members to their That diversity is something that could benefit all companies if they make the saidGayle Koolick, director of investment for Charmin Shoppes of Bensalem, which has 56 percentf of board seats filled by women and women in 22 percenty of its executive positions.