That's the bad news. The good news is that women are finally waking up to these realities and are doing something about it. After six years of serving as a member of the FCC and enduring frustration over the absence of top women in all of the industries we oversee, I recently convened a group of extraordinary women to come up with a game plan. These CEOs, executive headhunters, academics and others all deeply felt the need for action. They identified the root causes for the lack of women at the top, and proposed concrete steps to increase those numbers.
Cultural attitudes are pervasive.
Consolidation is a problem. When AOL and Time Warner announced their merger, not one of the twenty key executives in the future leadership lineup is a woman. It attracts other talented women to join. When there is a critical mass of women, their voices are heard and not ignored. We found that women executives needed a way to talk confidentially with other women CEOs -to seek advice or commiserate.