ガラスの天井

Too slow but steadyな女性の登用（エコノミスト誌）

Women in business

The conundrum（難問） of the glass ceiling

Why are women so persistently absent from top corporate jobs?

IT IS 20 years since the term “glass ceiling” was coined（創作する） by the Wall Street Journal to describe the apparent barriers that prevent women from reaching the top of the corporate hierarchy; and it is ten years since the American government's specially appointed Glass Ceiling Commission published its recommendations. In 1995 the commission said that the barrier was continuing “to deny untold numbers of qualified people the opportunity to compete for and hold executive level positions in the private sector.” It found that women had 45.7% of America's jobs and more than half of master's degrees being awarded. Yet 95% of senior managers were men, and female managers' earnings were on average a mere 68% of their male counterparts'.

Ten years on, women account for 46.5% of America's workforce and for less than 8% of its top managers, although at big Fortune 500 companies the figure is a bit higher. Female managers' earnings now average 72% of their male colleagues'. Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm that monitors departing chief executives in America, found that 0.7% of them were women in 1998, and 0.7% of them were women in 2004. In between, the figure fluctuated. But the firm says that one thing is clear: the number is “very low and not getting higher”.

　　　　　（中略）

It is even farther off in Japan where, until 20-30 years ago, it was generally unacceptable for women to stay in the office after 5pm. One ambitious employee of a foreign multinational dared to hide in the ladies' room until the men had left before returning to her desk to finish her work. There has been some progress since. This year two women have been appointed to head big Japanese companies. Fumiko Hayashi is now chairman and CEO of Daiei, a troubled supermarket chain; and Tomoyo Nonaka, a former newscaster, has been appointed boss of Sanyo Electric. Nissan has a general manager for “diversity development” who, when asked recently what has changed least in Japanese business in the past 20 years, replied: “The mindset of Japanese gentlemen.”

（注）：本文にもあるように、”glass ceiling”という言葉は、２０年前ウォール・ストリート・ジャーナルが創作し、女性の経営レベルへの参画の難しさを表すものですが、政府機関の“Glass Ceiling Commission”も含め、少数民族も含めて使われるケースが増えているようです。

時間があれば、

http://www.economist.com/business/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=4197626

さらに時間があれば、

　経営陣に女性が増えれば効率が上がるという記述がこの後半に出てきますが、“The mindset of gentlemen”という発言もあるように、国民性に深く根付いているものなので、革命的変化は期待できないのでしょう。

　経営層が男女平等になるには、米国ですら今後４半世紀を要するのではないかと思わせる内容ですが、それでもトレンドは不可逆でしょう。

　わが国での女性経営者登用として、２人挙げられていますが、いずれも危機にある企業というのも皮肉なものです。

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