December 22, 2005 12:11 PM

Modern-day witch hunts?
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 12:11 PM

USA Today writes about the dismal performance of the few Fortune 500 female CEO's. The article cites issues like the declining numbers of women CEOs and the fact that three of the companies have turned around since being run by men.

Proponents for the advancement of women pooh-pooh drawing any conclusions. Betty Spence, president of the National Association For Female Executives, says it's no different than a stretch when the majority of baseball managers were fired within three years after being named American League Manager of the Year. "The only thing they had in common was that they're men," Spence says. "The only logical conclusion is that men don't make good baseball managers."

But even if the numbers are statistically meaningless, Spence acknowledges that another year or two like 2004 and 2005 could feed perceptions and biases, and impede women's progress to the top. "The level of scrutiny — or skirtiny — goes up," she says. (Last year's story: Female CEOs struggle in '04 | 2003 story: Year of the woman among the 'Fortune' 500?)

"It's very damaging to women," says Judy Rosener of the University of California-Irvine Graduate School of Management, adding that it is unfair to compare the performance of the seven women against the S&P 500. "You could pick out 30 men from that list who have the same story. Look at General Motors and Ford."