Mentorships Key to Increasing Women in Senior Leadership Roles

The Gender Equity Committee met this week to participate in an interactive discussion with Shavon Lindley, CEO of Women Evolution, which creates innovative mentorship and training programs designed to strengthen the growth potential of female employees in companies.  While women make up more than half of entry level positions in Fortune 500 companies, that number quickly drops to 39 percent at mid-level, 26 percent at senior level, and only 5 percent at the CEO level.  Peer mentorship programs can greatly improve employee retention rates and convert high potential women into senior roles at the company.

The Bay Area Council’s Best Practices Resource Guide, released earlier this year, identified mentorship programs as an important strategy for promoting gender equity within companies. The Gender Equity Committee — led by co-chairs Peg McAllister (Lee Hecht Harrison), Christopher Ruhl (PwC LLP), and Stuart Newton (Deloitte) — will be hosting more workshops to help companies implement the other strategies identified in the Guide, including equalizing pay, building career development opportunities, addressing unconscious bias, and more.  Special thanks to PwC for hosting this meeting.  To engage in the Council’s Gender Equity work, please contact Policy Manager Emily Loper.