Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) recently released a study of minority and female participation in senior management and boardroom roles at America’s top corporations. The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council applauded completion of the study, but was less than thrilled with its lackluster findings.
Participation was voluntary and confidential, but despite the guarantee of anonymity less than half of surveyed companies responded.
Five were in the media/entertainment category, and they reported that 18.6% if board members were minorities and 22% were women; among senior management, 5.2% were minorities and 19% were women.
In the telecom/computer/business services sector, 13.3% of board members were minorities and 16.4% were women; 11.4% of senior executives were minorities and 22% were women.
In the general population, 34% of citizens are minorities and about 50% are women.
The watchdog noted that there may be a competitive advantage to having a diverse staff, commenting, “MMTC and a host of other national organizations have long urged the FCC to collect and disseminate minority and women employment data for media and telecom companies and thereby help these industries remain competitive domestically and internationally. As Senator Menendez stated in his report, ‘those corporations that have boards and senior management that are reflective of today’s demographics will be better positioned to compete amid a changing market.’”
