Fewer Women Run Big Companies Than Men Named John
March 2, 2015 11:19 AM Subscribe
Fewer large companies are run by women than by men named John, a sure indicator that the glass ceiling remains firmly in place in corporate America. Among chief executives of S&P 1500 firms, for each woman, there are four men named John, Robert, William or James. We’re calling this ratio the Glass Ceiling Index. (SLNYT, inspired by a 2-page PDF report from Ernst & Young which computed analogous numbers for board directors.)
"Turning to Congress, there is a partisan divide in the Glass Ceiling Index. On the Republican side of the Senate, there are as many men named John as there are women. Add in the Senator Roberts, Senator Jameses and Senator Williams, and they outnumber their female colleagues by a ratio of 2.17 to 1. The score in the House is slightly less unbalanced, but there are still 1.36 Jims-Bobs-Jacks-Bills for every woman. By contrast, on the Democratic side, women outnumber the men with these particular names by quite a margin, and by my count, the Glass Ceiling Index suggests a ratio of 0.3 to 1 in both the House and the Senate." (The ratio of Jims, Bobs, Jacks and Bills to women in the American population is 0.12 to 1.)
"Turning to Congress, there is a partisan divide in the Glass Ceiling Index. On the Republican side of the Senate, there are as many men named John as there are women. Add in the Senator Roberts, Senator Jameses and Senator Williams, and they outnumber their female colleagues by a ratio of 2.17 to 1. The score in the House is slightly less unbalanced, but there are still 1.36 Jims-Bobs-Jacks-Bills for every woman. By contrast, on the Democratic side, women outnumber the men with these particular names by quite a margin, and by my count, the Glass Ceiling Index suggests a ratio of 0.3 to 1 in both the House and the Senate." (The ratio of Jims, Bobs, Jacks and Bills to women in the American population is 0.12 to 1.)
Makes me think of the "Dave-to-Girl" ratio.
posted by octothorpe at 11:32 AM on March 2, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 11:32 AM on March 2, 2015 [7 favorites]
Any Tom, Dick or Harry can run a major company, but not a woman, it seems. Feh.
posted by Gelatin at 11:33 AM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Gelatin at 11:33 AM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
The concept of matching women up with "johns" creates an odd subtext to this index.
posted by yoink at 11:33 AM on March 2, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by yoink at 11:33 AM on March 2, 2015 [10 favorites]
The obvious answer to inequality is to name all your daughters "John."
posted by drlith at 11:43 AM on March 2, 2015 [15 favorites]
posted by drlith at 11:43 AM on March 2, 2015 [15 favorites]
Roberta Williams would drag a point back for the distaff side here.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:49 AM on March 2, 2015
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:49 AM on March 2, 2015
Why did they pick those names and leave out Michael, the #4 most popular?
posted by smackfu at 11:51 AM on March 2, 2015
posted by smackfu at 11:51 AM on March 2, 2015
A neat analysis of the names chosen is on the Baby Name Wizard blog. It includes discussion of why Michael was probably left off (they're still on the young side).
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:54 AM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:54 AM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
A rule of thumb I've heard for tech conferences is the Matt-to-woman ratio.
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:00 PM on March 2, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:00 PM on March 2, 2015 [8 favorites]
I am conflicted about this information.
posted by jscalzi at 12:20 PM on March 2, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by jscalzi at 12:20 PM on March 2, 2015 [10 favorites]
The obvious answer to inequality is to name all your daughters "John."
"Buckaroo, I don't know what to say. Lectroids? Planet 10? Nuclear extortion? A girl named John?"
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:32 PM on March 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
"Buckaroo, I don't know what to say. Lectroids? Planet 10? Nuclear extortion? A girl named John?"
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:32 PM on March 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'm not sure what's more disheartening: this headline, or the fact that it doesn't surprise me.
posted by deludingmyself at 12:35 PM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by deludingmyself at 12:35 PM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
On the Republican side of the Senate, there are as many men named John as there are women.
I sincerely doubt there are that many republican women in the senate named John.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:46 PM on March 2, 2015
I sincerely doubt there are that many republican women in the senate named John.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:46 PM on March 2, 2015
The obvious answer to inequality is to name all your daughters "John."
According to this pdf, women lawyers with masculine-sounding or gender-ambiguous names are more likely to become judges. (Dataset includes women judges with the first names Bruce and Barney -- see p. 10.)
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 12:51 PM on March 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
According to this pdf, women lawyers with masculine-sounding or gender-ambiguous names are more likely to become judges. (Dataset includes women judges with the first names Bruce and Barney -- see p. 10.)
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 12:51 PM on March 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Personally, I'll just take it as symptomatic of how awesome men called John are.
posted by Grangousier at 3:59 PM on March 2, 2015
posted by Grangousier at 3:59 PM on March 2, 2015
I just started working for a realtor, and when I was at the main office I was chit-chatting with an agent named Christina. When she swapped over into commercial reality, everyone told her to completely change her branding to be "Chris Lastname" so that it would seem like she was a guy. Which she didn't want to do because, as she said, my name is Christina, not Chris but she did it anyways. Recently, she went back into residential properties, and everyone said to change all of her branding BACK to being clear she was a lady.
posted by missmary6 at 4:38 PM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by missmary6 at 4:38 PM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like the name-based gender criticism thing a lot; there's been a lot of posts on Tumblr going around about how Marvel has yet to make a movie headlined by a woman or person of color but has made five starred by white guys named Chris; there has been much speculation about what white guys named Chris are still available to play Spider-Man. It's a good framing device.
posted by NoraReed at 5:10 PM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by NoraReed at 5:10 PM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
women lawyers with masculine-sounding or gender-ambiguous names are more likely to become judges.
I am a nurse but in my job as a nurse case manager I usually wear street clothes. I have a masculine presentation but I am female, and I am often mistaken for a doctor. I assume some female nurses in "plain clothes" have this same experience but my hunch is that I get it more often, because of my gender presentation. I should poll some of my colleagues on this, actually.
posted by latkes at 6:40 PM on March 2, 2015
I am a nurse but in my job as a nurse case manager I usually wear street clothes. I have a masculine presentation but I am female, and I am often mistaken for a doctor. I assume some female nurses in "plain clothes" have this same experience but my hunch is that I get it more often, because of my gender presentation. I should poll some of my colleagues on this, actually.
posted by latkes at 6:40 PM on March 2, 2015
Personally, I'll just take it as symptomatic of how awesome men called John are.
Yes. More awesome than women. All Johns are so amazingly great that there need to be as many Johns in position of authority as women. That is totally a symptom of the inherent awesomeness of Johns rather than a clue that something is fucked up about the system that puts people in powerful positions.
I mean, dude, I get why you are feeling jokey but I am really bristling at your comment. Seriously, please rethink.
posted by sciatrix at 9:10 PM on March 2, 2015 [7 favorites]
Yes. More awesome than women. All Johns are so amazingly great that there need to be as many Johns in position of authority as women. That is totally a symptom of the inherent awesomeness of Johns rather than a clue that something is fucked up about the system that puts people in powerful positions.
I mean, dude, I get why you are feeling jokey but I am really bristling at your comment. Seriously, please rethink.
posted by sciatrix at 9:10 PM on March 2, 2015 [7 favorites]
Personally, I'll just take it as symptomatic of how awesome men called John are.
No, read the article that tchemgirl posted above - the word you are looking for is not 'awesome', it is 'old'. Plus all the things sciatrix just said.
posted by polymath at 9:43 PM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
No, read the article that tchemgirl posted above - the word you are looking for is not 'awesome', it is 'old'. Plus all the things sciatrix just said.
posted by polymath at 9:43 PM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older First-ever snapshot of the dual nature of light | Oddly soothing shapes and colors in motion Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Which is odd, because I thought most of them were Dicks.
posted by The Bellman at 11:29 AM on March 2, 2015 [28 favorites]