The Paradox of Women's Progress

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we dig deeper into how far women have come, and how far there is left to go.

While women continue to advance, that progress is not as fast or as far as we would hope. Across a number of measures, women continue to face financial, career, visibility and even health challenges compared to their male counterparts. These trends affect individual women, but also their families, communities, employers and labor markets.

This week, we explore multiple dimensions?of where women stand in the economy, leadership and health. Do we have reason to celebrate? And importantly, what comes next?

News Roundup

1. Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy?(Center for American Progress: Rose Khattar,?Sara Estep)?Individual actions are one part of women’s success, but how can policy choices make broader changes to support not just women, but the economy as a whole??This includes structural issues like the wage gap and occupational segregation, which also hold women back: see Gender Wage Gap Persists in 2023: Women Are Paid Roughly 22% Less Than Men on Average?(EPI: Elise Gould) and?Women in Low-Paying Jobs Are Losing Billions…?(CNBC: Harriet Taylor).
2. Why Women Are Leaving Goldman Sachs?(The Journal.:?Ryan Knutson,?Kate Linebaugh, AnnaMaria Andriotis)?Women on Wall Street: “Why is this important to Goldman? Why does it see it as something that’s critical to its long-term success?” And why aren’t good intentions always enough?
3. Boeing Taps Internal Executive With Three Decades’ Experience for Top Job, but It Might Not Be a ‘Slam Dunk,’ CEO Succession Expert Says?(Fortune: Amanda Gerut)?When women take the lead, what challenges do they face from existing systems and corporate culture?
4. The Financial Influencers Women Actually Want to Listen To?(TIME: Meg Zukin)?How are these women working to make investment advice more than “just white guys with whiteboards behind them, mansplaining”?
5. Here’s What You Need to Know About Biden’s Executive Order on Women’s Health Research?(ABC News: Mary Kekatos) What is being done to address gender gaps in health care, and what impacts could this have on women, families, and businesses? And what other knowledge gaps should we fill??Modern Female Crash Dummies Can Improve Safety for Women, Experts Say?(ABC News: Clara McMichael, Sam Sweeney, Doug Vollmayer, Gio Benitez).

Spotlight: Explaining the Paradox of Progress In Women’s History Month 2024

As we close out Women’s History Month, do we have reason to celebrate women’s social and economic advancement??

Having worked in the corporate world for over 30 years in professional services and hospitality, and as the founder of the Quorum Initiative, an organization focused on accelerating the advancement of women, 2017 Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow?Meg Sullivan?has had a front row seat to the changes and lack thereof for women. And?in this essay she can only conclude that, across multiple measures, changes in support of women remain insignificant. The loss to everyone is enormous.

Paradoxically, this stagnation and even backsliding in some measures is taking place at a time of increased dialog and visibility around women’s issues. How do we explain this paradox, and more importantly, what can we do to resolve it?

One for the Road

We welcome your feedback, and thanks for reading, forwarding and following!

— The Business & Society Program