Google Inc (GOOG), Xerox Corporation (XRX) – Wall Street’s Secret Weapon: Women

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)
Among large-cap companies, networking equipment provider Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a true standout, being among the very few with three women on its board of directors. CEO John Chambers is taking further steps to address gender issues in the workplace. After reading Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In, and meeting with her personally, Chambers sent an email memo asking his corporate executives to read the book and outline several initiatives that they’ll implement to help bridge the gender gap. Consider this another step closer to breaking down the stereotype of tech being a male-dominated sector.

New York Life
The notoriously male-heavy financial sector has proven to be a stomping ground where women can excel — although success doesn’t always have to start at the top. One of the U.S.’ largest privately held life insurers, New York Life, recently announced its plans to hire up to 3,700 new agents this year with at least half being women or individuals representing (in the company’s own words) “cultural markets,” under which it includes individuals “serving the African-American, Chinese, Hispanic, Korean, South Asian, and Vietnamese markets.” This will be in addition to the 62% of new hires last year in those categories. Like publicly traded insurer Allstate, whose staff is made up predominantly by women (58.9%), New York Life understands that having a staff that represents a gender- and racially diverse subset is going to give it a better chance to grow its business.

It’s a start
Big business is certainly making progress in tightening the pay gap between men and women, and by promoting women to high-ranking executive positions, but we’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg. But as studies have clearly shown, having women involved on a company’s board of directors is a clear positive for both shareholders and the company’s bottom line. Consider this a wake-up call for hundreds of our nation’s largest companies to give themselves an edge by reaching out for female talent.

The article Wall Street’s Secret Weapon: Women originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems, Facebook, and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and Google.

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