Background
Women on the Job is a twenty year old 501©3 education and advocacy organization dealing with issues of pay equity, sexual harassment, and sexual discrimination, based in Port Washington, Long Island. Believing that more women at the top of a company can have an impact on women at the bottom, Women on the Job began the Where Are the Women? Project to promote the placement of women on corporate boards.

In 2000 at the request of Women on the Job, Hofstra University conducted the first study of women on corporate boards of the top 100 Public Corporations on Long Island. The study revealed that while 12% of the board seats of the Fortune 500 companies are held by women, women occupy only 4% of the board seats of publicly traded companies on Long Island.

Using the results of that study the Where Are the Women? Project held its first Get On Board luncheon in 2001 recognizing the Long Island corporations that had women on their board. Over 400 business leaders, educators and senior executives attended the luncheon.

In 2002, a follow up study by Adelphi University found similar results, only 4% of the board seats were held by women. While according to Catalyst women were gaining ground in the Fortune 500, little improvement was seen on the local level.

Mission
The Where Are the Women? Project is now focusing on shareholder advocacy. Our goal is to have thousands of shareholders asking CEO’s and Board Chairmen, “Where Are the Women?” Our message to the corporations is simple, “In a world where your shareholders are women, your customers are women and your employees are women, it makes sense to have a woman’s perspective on your board of directors. Diversity on the board is good for the bottom line.”

The project, previously operating at a local level focusing on companies located on Long Island, with the launch of The Shareholder Advocacy Kit, is now national in scope. We aim to support other grassroots organizations, with missions similar to ours, operating all around the country. The tools in this Shareholder Education Guide can help shareholders everywhere send a universal message.