Lunch & Learn: Women at the Helm

Women face a unique set of challenges in the workplace, and come across many obstacles on the path to leadership. 

For instance, the gender wage gap - in full-time US workers, women earn 79% for every dollar a man earns, on average.¹  Even among new college graduates, men out-earn women by 18%. Adjusted for the disparity as a result of different fields, the gap remains at 6%.²

Or the gender leadership gap - Women represent 45% of the S&P 500 workforce, but only 4% of the CEOs.⁴  In a study of nearly 22,000 publicly traded organizations worldwide, 60% have no female board members.⁵

Implicit bias affects how women are perceived in the workplace. Everyone has implicit bias; it happens out of our control and reflects associations we acquire as we socialize into the culture we grow up in. Think: connecting "doctor" to "he" and "nurse" to "she." Gendered norms that tell us that if a woman is soft or cautious, she’s reinforcing stereotypes. If she’s assertive and confident, she’ll be perceived as bossy or feisty. It’s a lose-lose.⁶

Other struggles that can affect men and women, but more often affect women include sexual harassment, imposter syndrome, the balance of family-life and worklife, or even counteracting the expectation of motherhood. 

This month's Lunch & Learn includes a panel of four incredible female leaders in our community, and will also be moderated by a strong female leader - Rita Craig, President of Top Tier Leadership.

Our panel includes:

• Lisa Johnson, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida and LPBC President
• Ruth Mageria, Executive Director of CROS Ministries
• Chief Sarah Mooney, West Palm Beach Police Department
• Geri Emmett, Chairwoman of Duffy's Foundation 

We will hear their stories from their rise to leadership, any obstacles they had to overcome, and their experiences as strong, female leaders.