"More Women Needed in Top Jobs, Critics Say" was the sub-head for the Washington Post article In Banking Crisis, Guys Get the Blame, published on February 11th. Assessing blame is important, but what we do about it is even more urgent. More women in leadership is a big piece of the answer. Nicholas Kristof’s February 8th piece, Mistresses of the Universe pointed to this solution: “Banks around the world desperately want bailouts of billions of dollars, but they also have another need they’re unaware of: women, women, women.” Apparently the men in the back rooms at Davos questioned whether “we would be in the same mess if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Brothers and Sisters.” There’s lots of evidence that suggests we’d be in a very different place if that had been true.

It’s not just Wall Street that needs more women; it’s the top echelons of our corporations, public office and universities. We are way behind the times in recognizing that balanced leadership – with more women on boards and in top management – is better all the way around. When women occupy one-third of the seats at power tables, profits increase. So does return-on-investment, sales and productivity. Research by Corporate Voices for Working Families shows that more women in top positions ensures a much better record on positive family and work policies. Morale goes up as more family-friendly policies become the norm, leading to increased productivity. Yet according to Catalyst, we have less than 3% women CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, with just 15% on their boards. Some of the big names in this year’s economic meltdown – like Countrywide Financial – have no women board members at all.

Balanced leadership is better in government, too. In 1995, the UN convened the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, adopting the goal of realizing one-third women decision-makers in all policy positions - public and private. The resulting Platform for Action was adopted by 189 countries and then by the UN General Assembly. The Inter-Parliamentary Union adopted this goal in 1996 and has reported the resulting statistics every year. Next month in New York, the UN Commission on the Status of Women is holding a special session to examine how well the world’s countries have met this goal. By putting at least one-third of women in key roles, countries around the world have begun to enjoy the benefits of a broadened group of decision-makers.

In her book, When Women Lead: Integrative Leadership in State Legislatures, Cindy Simon Rosenthal examines the differences in how women chair committees and how legislatures with few, versus many, women legislators function. Her findings suggest that women employ more integrative approaches to politics, favoring collaboration and consensus, over politics that support limited interests. Having personally worked with a large number of women elected officials on the state and national level, anecdotally this is clearly their experience.

Unfortunately, the United States’ dismal record of women in Congress shows in international rankings – we have fallen from 42nd to 69th in the world since the tipping point in 1996 when other countries began to focus on what I call the “30% Solution.” President Obama’s Cabinet is still below par – utilizing just half of America’s talent rather than all of it. With several more positions to be filled, I hope we’ll eventually see women at the top of a third of our key agencies.

My mother always found the silver lining in the worst of times. Maybe one part of that silver lining in this tough economic climate is finally recognizing that women are the talent pipeline of the future – the “good ol’ boys club” won’t get us where we need to go.

Balanced leadership needs to be a reality, not just rhetoric. “First women” are making important decisions and contributions, but a few is not enough to lead to different outcomes. In order to have what Stanford law professor Deborah Rhode has called, “the difference ‘difference’ makes,” and gain the benefit of women’s experiences, ideas, management styles and approaches, they must be heard and heeded. That takes more than just a few voices. Getting there isn’t complicated, but it takes a major change in attitude.

We have to bring more women to the top, not to meet quotas, but because they bring unique strengths and approaches that we need.

And yet there are far more talented and experienced women poised to lead than there are real openings. Every leader should look around at the top layers of their organization and see how much diversity really exists – is it rank upon rank of white males? Having the best-qualified person to do the job means looking for a full range of candidates, not just promoting from within the usual in-group. As an old bumper sticker says, “Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman.”

No one – man or woman – should fill a board seat, hire for a leadership position or identify candidates for public office unless there are women in the final pool of possible candidates. If we want better-run companies, healthier communities and a more compassionate society, we need the energy, intellect and experience that women bring to the table. It wasn’t women at the top of Wall Street, or in the banks and boardrooms, that made this economic mess that we’re now in, but more women are needed to solve it.

Today’s challenges offer us unique opportunities. On March 5th, the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank) will announce its new gender index for the companies they do business with around the world since they are convinced that more women at the top in politics and engaged in their economies expedites economic growth.

Balanced leadership is good business and smart politics. We’ve ignored it for far too long.

Photograph by flickr user *USB* used under Creative Commons licenses.

About the Author
The Honorable Linda Tarr-Whelan is a Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow who has had a varied career in the public, non-profit and governmental sectors. She served as Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in the Clinton Administration and as Deputy Assistant for Women’s Concerns to President Jimmy Carter. Ladies Home Journal named her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Washington.

Linda’s experience has included a sub-cabinet appointment in New York State government, policy director for AFSCME, AFL-CIO and chief lobbyist for the National Education Association. As CEO of the Center for Policy Alternatives, the leading progressive policy and leadership center for the 50 states, she focused on women and the economy. She and her husband created a successful international change management consultancy.

Linda began her career as a nurse and holds a BSN from Johns Hopkins, an MS from the University of Maryland, and honorary PhDs from Chatham University and Plymouth State University. Linda’s book, Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World will be published later this year. She lives on St. Helena Island, South Carolina.