Welcome to the inaugural Global Power 100 — Women in Staffing list. This list features the North America 50. Here’s how it all began.
We started publishing the Staffing 100 list in 2011. Two years later, we added Europe. The jubilation that accompanies the release of these lists got us thinking about doing a separate one just for women. After all, 57% of women participate in the labor force compared to 69.2% of men. Coincidentally, July 2015 marked the 95th anniversary of the US Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau.
Let’s zero in on the staffing industry. The good news: Anecdotal evidence indicates that women dominate the staffing industry — at the branch-office level. The bad news: A very small number make it to boardrooms. On average, women comprise only 6% of board seats at the 27 public staffing firms tracked by Staffing Industry Analysts.
The statistics tell their own story. We want to change the narrative to honor those women who are affecting staffing firms and, by extension, the world of work. Our original goal was to have a Global Power 50. The response to our call for nominations was overwhelming to say the least. So instead we created the Global Power 100, with the North America 50 featured in this issue. The list in its entirety (along with the International 50) is online at si100women.staffingindustry.com.
This list is not a ranking. It’s a call-out to those women nominated by you and us. Among them are the policymakers, businesspersons, technologists, crusaders, leaders, etc., all wearing hats of different shapes and sizes. But there’s one thing they have in common: A love for promoting and shaping talent.
