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Women as Leaders:   The 30% Solution 

In her book, "Women Lead the Way," Linda Tarr-Whelan discusses the concept of the 30% solution. Tarr-Whelan says that the "30% solution is a proven realistic way to bring more women up into leadership, alter cultural stereotypes, and influence agendas, resources and outcomes."  To achieve the 30% solution, we need more women leaders at the top as leaders and board members of companies and organizations, elected politicians and policy makers, and advocating for other women.
In 1995, the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Status of Women, determined that "the presence of 30% women in decision-making bodies is the tipping point to have women's ideas and values, and approaches resonate according to Tarr-Whelan."  The United States continues to lag behind the rest of the world.  Currently, twenty-three countries met or exceed the goal of the 30% solution.  Having women in leadership positions benefits both women and men as they tend to focus on family friendly initiatives.

Government and the 30% Solution
"Women in government are more likely to concentrate on improving health care and education, on ending violence and developing long-neglected supports for working families.  Women in political leadership tend to bring a different temperament to public policy discussions with more listening and collaborative strategies applied than men," according to Tarr-Whelan.

The Institute on Women (http://instituteonwomen.org) collects information about the status of women in Ohio.  Julie Graber, who is the director of the Institute on Women shares some statistics about women serving in elected positions.  According to Graber, "of the 12,000 people who have served in the U.S. Congress in the past 200+ years, only 2% have been female."  

In Ohio, the current statistics on women serving in elected and appointed positions are mixed in reaching the 30% solution.  While the number of elected state officials and Governor's cabinet have more than 30% women, the House of Representatives and Senate do not meet the goal. 

• Elected State Officials   33%
• Governor's Cabinet  48%
• House of Representatives  22%
  - Majority Leadership 33%
  - Minority Leadership 25%
• Senate     21%
  - Majority Leadership 0%
  - Minority Leadership 50%
  Source:  www://ohio.gov

Businesses and the 30% Solution
In the United States, there are many organizations who fall short of the 30% solution.  According to Julie Graber, there are only fifteen  female Chief Executive Officers  (CEO) of Fortune 500 companies nationally.  Of the Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in Ohio, there are no women CEOs.  
Deloitte & Touche USA, an accounting firm that has focused on increasing the number of female leaders has been quite successful.  According to Tarr-Whelan, 35% of the partners and 30% of the directors at Deloitte & Touche are women.  "Having one-third women at the top leads to greater opportunities for women at all levels of an organization."

Attaining the 30% Solution
According to Tarr-Whelan, the best way to achieve the 30% solution is by building momentum and articulating a better future work working for.  Women will need to promote the positive benefits of adding the difference women make.  We need to align ourselves with men who benefit from the family friendly policies that are an outcome of the 30% solution. 

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Created: 2011-08-12, Updated: 2011-11-18