As Pierre reported in the previous post, 60% of graduate students are women. Women are getting a lot more educated than men, but a report released by UC Davis today questions why they are bothering. The third annual UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders found that:

• Women hold 9.4 percent of the 3,283 board seats in the 400 largest public companies in California, up from 8.8 percent in 2006.
• Almost half -- 47 percent -- of the companies have no women directors and more than a third -- 34.3 percent -- have only one.
• Women hold 11.6 percent of the companies' 2,878 top executive offices, down slightly from 11.7 percent in 2006.
• Half -- 49.8 percent -- of the companies have no women in executive offices and less than a quarter -- 21.9 percent -- have two or more.
• Only 3 percent of the companies have a woman serving as CEO.
• Retail and finance industries had the highest percentages of women in top executive positions. Pharmaceuticals and media had the highest concentrations of women on the board.
• Three fourths -- 76 percent -- of the telecommunications industry and two-thirds -- 67 percent -- of the electronics industry had all-male boards. Similarly, 73 percent of telecom companies and 83 percent of electronics companies had all-male executive teams.
• The largest corporations, overall, have the most gender equity.
• Among counties with more than 20 companies in the survey, San Francisco County leads the state with 16.9 percent women directors. Santa Clara County has the lowest percentage, at 7.3 percent.
• San Francisco and Marin counties each have 20 percent women executives; Los Angeles has 12.5 percent; San Diego County, 10.2 percent; Orange County, 9.2 percent; and Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley), 9.1 percent.

"Too many board rooms and executive suites in California still look more like 1957 than 2007 in terms of gender equity. And we've seen no real change in three years," said Nicole Woolsey Biggart, dean of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, which conducted the study in partnership with the Palo Alto-based Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives.

"At a time when public companies are suffering from lapses in corporate governance and failures in leadership, they cannot afford to ignore the talent and perspective available in half the population and close to half the work force."

When are corporations going to wake up and recognize what they are losing by keeping educated women out of their businesses? What do consumers and investors need to do to bring this discrimination to an end, once and for all? Maybe the Power Women 50 index will bring some much needed attention to what a great job women do when they are 'allowed' to run public corporations.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen