She pointed to the fact that of the 15 members of the inaugural County Council, only two are women. Mayor Murphy was lauded by top women appointees. That's something that Mayor Murphy was committed to from day one. Women held 3 percent of the top-earner spots compared with 1.2 percent four years earlier. And 5 percent of the top companies' high-profile executive positions were held by women, up from 2.4 percent in 1995.
Any advance is good.
But recent research re-emphasized how much farther there is to go. We found that women only hold 8.5 percent of board seats in those companies. Whatever good feeling and can-do spirit was generated in Beijing has mostly evaporated in the United States, experts said. Yes, the conference raised humanity's collective consciousness and made women's issues highly visible. Not so in other countries.