Self-Worth or Net-Worth?

Should a woman’s net-worth determine her self-worth? The obvious answer would be no, however, in our male dominated business society this is often exactly what occurs.

Men often view their success by the number of zeros they can write at the end of the check. A woman is more likely to view her life success by how she has contributed to making the world a better place or how she created a happier family life.

Woman take an average of 11 years out of the workforce (often during their prime earning years), earn up to a third less than men and live 5 years longer. This has a tremendous impact on the number of zeros they can write at the end of their checks.

Women are likely to be the caretakers in the family. In fact, 72% of the time, women take responsibilty for elder care. Many of these same women also care for children at the same time. Not only that, but they have to balance the demands of their workplaces. For almost 20% of working caregivers, the demands are so great that they must take a leave of absence or stop working entirely to meet their family obligations. Add a health crisis to the situation where a woman has limited insurance coverage and the financial ramifications can be devastating.

All of above contains clues why 75% of the elderly poor are woman. They place more value care-giving than on financial success.

A woman friend of mine, who is on the Board of Directors for a global non-profit organization, told me that she was being overtly pressured to donate a huge sum of money to the company this year. She was told, after being on the board for several years that the board member standard was to donate six figures. Since the other 4 male board members had contributed large sums, she also needed to.

They said if she was unable to do this she should consider moving down to be part of the advisory team instead of on the Board of Directors. They also included, that writing a six figure check, let’s say $100,000 or $250,000, would show her level of commitment to the organization like nothing else could. The value wasn’t on what skills or mentoring advice she could bring to the table, only on what cash she could produce to fund the non-profit.

Imagine – Ms.Money’s surprise (my surprise) when I heard this story and the gasp of amazement when I learned the founder and CEO of this non-profit is a woman herself. By focusing on money only, she would effectively be removing the only other woman from her board. A bad strategic move I thought.

This non-profit’s beneficiaries are often women and/or their children around the world who need help because of their limited financial resources. The CEO of the non-profit must be a philanthropist at heart, however when it comes to business she takes a male dominated approach that board members are distinguished by their financial contributions.

My Board Member friend would have liked to write a six figure check if she had that level of financial abundance. However, due to a health crisis which prevented her from working the last few years and time taken away from work for family reasons, she was spending more than she made just to meet her current financial obligations, there certainly wasn’t six figures lying around. She was sad that she was being told by a woman she supported for many years that her overall worth on the Board was no longer being valued. She was also even more disappointed to step down from the organization, since she was very passionate about the cause.

Remember women make less than men - even in the non-profit world. The Non Profit Times Salary Report shows that male executive directors of non-profits were paid $108,555 on average last year, while females holding the same position received $77,086. Please note the words “holding the same position”. I would assume that the woman CEO of this non-profit earns about a third less than her male peers.

Since women make less money and take time off of the workforce to care for others, they have less time and money to donate. Yet, I would bet that the % of women who donate to charities is higher than those of men since they understand more deeply the plight of the underserved.

Which brings me to an issue that I have been very passionate about since I was 16 years old. At this young age, I decided I would become a CEO of a company and would not let this so-called glass ceiling phenomena hold me back from proving I would be as good as any man could be at the job. Underneath this brewing feminism anger was a driving need to light the way and inspire other women that they could do the same.This passion for equality of men and women in the workplace is part of the reason I started MsMoney.com.

Here are the facts: in 2005 only 15% of Board of Directors seats at Fortune 500 companies were held by women, in 1995 there were 10%. At this rate of change, it would take 70 years for women to reach parity with men, if it ever gets to that level.

With women making 85% of the household purchase decisions, and a large number of Fortune 500 companies marketing to or effecting woman’s lives, it would seem an obvious choice to add more women to the board. However, it hasn’t been easy.

When my friend pointed out the fact that this non-profit CEO would be removing the only other woman board member, it didn’t seem to affect her decision. She said she had tried to find other women to be on the board but couldn’t. Apparently it is quite difficult to get women to pay a six figure check to help your organization. I am not surprised, with women being so busy taking care of family and earning less money, they don’t have the disposable income or time.

So perhaps the bar for women Board of Director’s members is being set too high. Why should women only be measured by their net worth instead of their overall contributed worth to the organization and the society as a whole from being included in the highest echelons of business management?

Below are some strategic points for non-profit or for-profit leaders to consider when building a board. There are also 7 other reasons on the website, why adding women to a board is a smart business decision - including the fact that you have to go beyond the status-quo and break some of the more tradition rules if you want a balanced board of equal male and female contributors.

2005 Catalyst Consensus

“To ensure long-term sustainability and to represent all company stakeholders, corporate boards must adapt to today’s realities and anticipate tomorrow’s marketplace,” said Lang. “Companies must position their boards in the same way they position their businesses. Diverse boards yield crucial breadth of perspective and expertise, provide role models for future talent, and promote good governance.”

Catalyst research reveals there are many qualified women in the pipeline who are excluded from the key leadership positions and development opportunities that lead to corporate board
selection. Companies must, therefore, strategically and operationally address the issue of board diversity by assessing broader business needs and looking beyond the traditional candidates.

My advice to the CEO of the non-profit who is looking for six figure checks from her Board Members is to focus more on what unique skills each Board member brings to the table and how she can best use those to further her business objectives and serve the world at the same time. A woman’s worth is not determined by her net-worth and perhaps it is time to look beyond the numbers.