wbjournal.com | October 30, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education)
Staff Writers
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Emily Micucci,
emicucci@wbjournal.com (Health care)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub
Livia Gershon
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Associate Art Director,
Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Custom Publishing Project Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
T
he movement toward gender
equality has made fantastic
strides in the past 100 years, as
less than a century ago women
still were not allowed to vote or given
social security numbers (because until
1930, it was assumed women would not
work and therefore not need SSNs).
Today, we have gender equality laws, the
workforce is close to 50/50 women and
men, and young girls are given the same
educational opportunities to excel in
their chosen field.
These strides, though, have come while
men still have held onto nearly all the
power. Even today, less than 6 percent of
Fortune 500 CEOs are women, while men
make up 80 percent of those companies'
board seats. Only six of the 50 governors
in this country are women. No woman
has ever served as U.S. president.
We obviously still have a long way to
go. Perhaps the greatest indicator of
women and men not being on equal
footing for jobs, promotions, under-
standing when incorporating family
demands into careers, and salary negoti-
ation is the fact women in the U.S. still
make 79 cents for every $1 a man makes.
In Massachusetts, the gap is slightly less
– at 84 cents – but the problem remains.
The next step toward true gender
equality in the workplace is getting more
women into power. While men can and
have understood the need for gender
equality and advocated to rectify any
wrongs to eliminate biases, only when the
percentage of leadership positions held by
women is reflective of the percentage of
women in the workforce can all the seen
and unseen issues be addressed in a
meaningful and corrective way.
The phrase "the best person gets the
job, regardless of gender" may be conve-
nient to hide behind, but determining
the best is highly subjective. So, when it
is largely men in managerial and person-
nel leadership positions determining
who the best candidate is – whether if it
is for an entry-level position or the CEO
– the process is inherently flawed, even if
the men don't believe they are biased.
Companies with women in leadership
positions typically perform better and
The power of women in power
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weeky, 24x per year, including 5 special
issues in April, July, September, November and
December, by New Engand Business Media. 172
Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals
postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2017. All
rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address
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Congers, NY 10920-9894.
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Worcester Business Journal
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508-755-8004 tel.
• 508-755-8860 fax
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A division of:
NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
12 Focus on Outstanding Women in
Business
20 The List: Top woman-owned
businesses
23 Know How
24 The Rainmaker
25 Investment fraud: easy money or not
26 On The Move
30 Photo Finish
32 Business Leads
33 Opinion
34 Shop Talk: RXi Pharmaceuticals
8 A punk rock business
A passion for music and high-profile
clients barely kept SJC Custom Drums
afloat. Armed with a new business plan,
the company is quadrupling its space.
10 Women in STEM
WPI and area companies are pushing to
recruit more women into science and
technology.
I N T H I S I S S U E
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
Knowledge +
Experience +
Trusted Advice.
It all adds up.
Large enough to serve the
needs of most businesses
and individuals; small
enough to offer the
personal attention you
expect and deserve.
Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli, PC
Certified Public Accountants
306 Main Street, Suite 400 • Worcester, MA 01608
508.791.0901 • www.grkb.com
have higher earnings. This is because the
people in these companies collectively
recognize the strength of using 100 per-
cent of the workforce to its greatest abili-
ties, rather than just half of it.
- Brad Kane, editor
W
