NewsWatch: 2008: Women Business Leaders

[Narrator:] From the University of California at Davis, this is NewsWatch.

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] A UC Davis study shows that California businesswomen have made little progress in climbing the corporate ladder.

[Biggart:] "Women hold just over 10 percent of the board seats and executive positions in California's largest public companies."

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] Biggart said that studies show that corporations that have women in executive positions enjoy stronger financial performance.

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] Wendy Beecham, who drives leadership changes in corporate America, says women need to learn to be more flexible in how they network.

[Beecham:] It's also the way women network differently than men that really holds them back. They have very deep relationships with fewer people than aren't necessarily the strategic influencers that can help sponsor them into more significant roles."

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] Annie Ly, an MBA student at UC Davis who worked on the study was disappointed with the results.

[Ly:] "I was appalled by how little —few positions that women held both in executive positions and also on board of director seats."

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] Study author Don Palmer says women still experience discrimination.

[Palmer:] "Women leaders represent in a sense, 'seeds' from which grow other opportunities and in firms where there isn't a history of women in leadership, it is very hard to break through."

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] "After 40 years of brewing, Peet's Coffee, ranks 20th on the list. Two of seven people on their board of directors are women and one in four executives are women."

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] The study found that the pharmaceutical sector has the highest percentage of women directors followed closely behind by retail. Paul Pfotenhauer, reporting from UC Davis.

[Narrator:] For more information please log on to broadcast.ucdavis.edu.