GM has just appointed Mary Barra as it's CEO. This is the first time GM has appointed a female to this position.
While I can't say I am particularly endeared to GM, and they have done several things over the years I detest, I have to say I am quite happy with this move.
This story is being heavily reported within financial news, but is so far not within the regular mainstream media outside of the business sections.
Here is a link to a Washington post article.
Follow below the fold for why this is a big deal.
Women are heavily under-represented in the business community. When you look at the figures it is quite sad.
Women hold just 4.2 percent of CEO positions within Fortune 500 companies.
Meanwhile Thailand, has the highest percentage of female CEO's at 30% and China comes in second at 19%. These are not exactly known as bastions of freedom so the fact they are so far ahead of us on that front is disturbing.
Things look the same when you look at women in senior management position overall. The U.S. does not even rank in the top ten in this respect. China leads the pack with 51% and the U.S. is within the bottom 10 countries ranked with 20%
The link I provided is from a Chinese news source, but the statistics come from a Canadian company, Grant Thornton. The entire report can be viewed here.
It's somewhat ridiculous that news like this should even be a big deal. A woman being given a CEO position is the kind of thing that should be commonplace, and not worthy of an article on leading mainstream media. Unfortunately though, this is not the norm. Women do not generally get these kind of opportunities, and it is at least positive to see a woman given such a job within such a male dominated industry.
This of course doesn't mean she will or won't do a good job, treat the environment any better, or treat worker's rights better than any previous CEO's.
It's just great to see she has been given the equal opportunity to do so.