On Tuesday, March 1, GovLoop and Deloitte teamed up to host a live chat with two leading experts on gender roles in the workforce. Learn more about the event at http://www.govloop.com/forum/topics/i-spy-a-women-in-a-leadership

1. GovLoop Chat: The Gender Dividend/ Paths to Power 3/1/2011
Govloop: Thanks for joining us today on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. You are here for an awesome GovLoop chat on
the topic of gender dividend and paths to power. Today is a special day.
Govloop: Before we start I wanted to set the ground rules on our GovLoop chat. I’m also your host/moderator today.
This is about you and your questions. If you have a question, please click on my name at the right and send me a
question. If you ignore my instructions, I will be forced to kick you out...I’m just kidding. But it works better if you send
the questions to me on the right.
Govloop: Today’s chat is brought to us by our supporter, Deloitte. We are lucky enough today to have both Sally
D’Amato and Anne Weisberg with us today to talk about these issues.
Govloop: They have written two really great papers lately on this topic of gender dividend. The first paper is Paths to
Power - Advancing women in Government. The newest is The Gender Dividend - Making the Business Case for Investing
in Women.
Govloop: To get us going... my 1st question for Sally and Anne is: Tell us what you learned in your recent papers.
Sally D’Amato: What we’ve discovered is both Good news/Bad news. On the good news side there are more women in
leadership in the public sector than in the private sector. This is true even in some traditionally male roles, like CFO and
CIO. But on the bad news side, women are overrepresented at the bottom.
Anne Weisberg: For example, in federal workforce, 67% of Grades 1-4 are women, but only 30% of those at senior pay
levels are women.
Govloop: That’s awesome. Anne I loved the stats in your paper. Can
you tell more stats you found in your study? In fact, the numbers at the top
Anne Weisberg: Women are the majority of college students - and haven't budged. Women are only
have been since the mid-1980. This year, for the first time, women 16% of corporate officers of Fortune
received the majority of PHDs in the US. The problem is they are not 500 companies. That hasn’t changed
making it to the top. In fact, the numbers at the top haven't budged. since 2005. In other words: progress
Women are only 16% of corporate officers of Fortune 500 companies. has stalled.
That hasn’t changed since 2005. In other words: progress has stalled.
Govloop: Awesome... the questions are coming in next question -keep on sending them. The numbers are what they
are, but what is it that government can do to remedy the representation and ensure better equality of the genders in
top management?
Sally D’Amato: Women's careers don't follow a straight line...the majority of women don't work continuously over the
course of a 40 year career.
Sally D’Amato: Government can put systems in place to allow women to dial up and dial down without dialing out.
Govloop: Awesome. Next question: Where did you get the stats? Where did the numbers come from?
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2. GovLoop Chat: The Gender Dividend/ Paths to Power 3/1/2011
Anne Weisberg: We get them from you! Many of our stats come from the agencies where you work - Dept of Labor and
Dept of Education. Some of them come from non-profits and others come from other research we've done at Deloitte.
Govloop: Keep the question coming...just find my name and send a direct message. Question: How does this divide of
those at the top and at the bottom compare with the private sector?
Sally D’Amato: The private sector lags in certain cases the public I’m participating in @GovLoop chat on
sector. 10% of heads of state in the world were woman in 2009. But gender dividends. It annoys me that only
only 3% of global CEOs were women. So there's a bit of a disparity... 3% of global CEOs are women. Let’s all
step up.
Govloop: Keep the questions rocking....Question: What can we as @kristyfifelski
women do on an individual level to ensure that we are considered for
(and get) top level positions?
Anne Weisberg: A big reason for why women aren't advancing is the way women think about opportunities. You have to
understand that it isn't enough to keep your head down - the meritocracy includes building relationships
Sally D’Amato: ...and what I like to call a power base.
Anne Weisberg: Invest in your network, find and be a
Mentorship And Sponsorship Is Not The Same. mentor. You need to cultivate your sponsors.
A mentor is someone who invests time in you.
Sally D’Amato: Exactly. And mentorship and sponsorship is
A sponsor is someone who is invested in your success...
not the same. A mentor is someone who invests time in
You need both. It's not one or the other.
you. A sponsor is someone who is invested in your
success... You need both. It's not one or the other.
Michael Jadoo: I think women have helped and advanced our work ethics in government.
Govloop: Great answer. On the phone line. Ping me on the right. Next question we have is from Patt Franc. The Federal
Women's Program has all but dwindled in many agencies. A large percentage of agencies don't file the required
Management Directive 715 report. There seems to be no push to get data, and no penalty to hold agencies
accountable! Why?
Anne Weisberg: The business case for advancing women has not been clearly stated - but that doesn't mean it doesn't
exist. Women in government are more likely to raise, recognize and address the concerns of women.
Sally D’Amato: Our research shows that oversight and regulation of laws that exist is sorely lacking.
Anne Weisberg: What we have found is that the laws on the books are not enough to create this change.
Anne Weisberg: They are necessary but not sufficient. People need to understand why they should make this
investment in women's retention and advancement. That goes back to the business case.
Sally D’Amato: It's a cultural shift to a large extent. In both the public and private sectors.
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3. GovLoop Chat: The Gender Dividend/ Paths to Power 3/1/2011
Govloop: Half way through...got 15 minutes to go. Keep your questions coming - send me a private message on the
right directly. Comment from the crowd from Shelly: I also think it's critical to point out that the definition of success is
very gendered as well.
Anne Weisberg: There are multiple ways of viewing success - the
more diversity we see in the workplace, the more definitions of
Just to be clear - success and ambition
success there are. It is very important to know what success looks
are not the same. Women are just as
like for yourself.
ambitious as men; they just may
Anne Weisberg: Just to be clear - success and ambition are not define success differently than men.
the same. Women are just as ambitious as men; they just may
define success differently than men.
Govloop: Great answers Anne and Sally. If it was recent that women came up to par with men in terms of PhDs/college
graduates, then could it be just a time factor? We need time to get the experience that older men in top positions
have already had?
Govloop: That’s a great question from Kristy...
Sally D’Amato: No....
Sally D’Amato: Over the past 25 years, the measures have indicated that women are getting stuck. Women tend not to
invest in building out their business networks.
Anne Weisberg: But it is not just an individual issue, it's also an organizational issue.
Sally D’Amato: So the frame is two-fold it is on the individual and on the organization to address this issue.
Anne Weisberg: For example: There is an individual responsibility to look for that next stretch assignment to help you
grow and develop, but also an organizational responsibility that everyone (men and women) have the same
opportunities for development.
Sally D’Amato: It's a shared responsibility...
Govloop: Are there specific success stories that you can point to that organizations can use to help further women's
advancement in government?
Govloop: Great question from Austin out there…Hey Austin.
Sally D’Amato: Well there's obviously Deloitte...
Anne Weisberg: Deloitte started it's Women's Initiative in 1993. Women were coming into the firm at the same rate as
men but leaving at a higher rate. It turns out that was hugely expensive. This left Deloitte with a much smaller pool for
leadership. Today, in part because of the Women's Initiative, we've gone from 97 women partners in 1993 to over 1,000
women partners.
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4. GovLoop Chat: The Gender Dividend/ Paths to Power 3/1/2011
Anne Weisberg: The Women's Initiative has helped bring in over 750 million dollars of new business in the last five years
alone.
Sally D’Amato: Yep...folks may want to check out The Corporate Lattice as one of the ways we look to help all
employees dial up and dial down as needed - http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Insights/Browse-by-Content-
Type/books/corporate-lattice/index.htm
GovLoop: Wow 5 minutes left and its really hopping in here. We'll try to get to all the questions we can, and if not, we'll
follow up and take them on to a GovLoop discussion thread.
Govloop: Next question is for Sally. How about companies/agencies that include/encourage telecommuting? Do you
find that there are more women in leadership positions at these types of work places? Does telecommuting help?
Sally D’Amato: I don't know of any research to prove or support that claim. But we do see that men and women use
telecommuting pretty much the same… We all need day to day flexibility in our lives!
Anne Weisberg: In fact, we had over 1000 people attend a session on flexibility last week 91% of them said they needed
flexibility.
Sally D’Amato: For flexibility always think win/win. What's good for you and what's good for your
organization/manager.
Govloop: Well, this is an awesome chat. And we really only have time for only one last question. The rest we will get on
to our GovLoop discussion thread.
Govloop: Thanks Deloitte for sponsoring this awesome chat and for Sally and Anne for being awesome. Here's the last
question from Patt: OK if we need to invest in ourselves, it would help if more successful women were there to help
support and provide information on getting from here to there. Where is this network of successful women and how
to we tap into it?
Sally D’Amato: It's not just networking woman to woman....it's networking broadly with men and women and finding
those champions and sponsors who will help you in your career advancement. Using networks like GovLoop, Federally
Employed Women, Business and Professional Women's Association is another that comes to mind. If you find a really
good network let us know! Share with your colleagues (or start a new one).
Govloop: Well that’s all folks. We keep the chats to 30 minutes to keep them useful and practical.
Sally D’Amato: Wow that went fast....
Really excited to see so many people
Anne Weisberg: Thank you everyone interested in the topic THAT is serious
progress right there!
GovLoop: Thanks Anne and Sally for being so awesome. They will take
@shellytregembo
all your additional questions.
Andrew Krzmarzick: Great resource page here: http://www.deloitte.com/genderdividend
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