EDITORIAL: Women in executive roles need more networks, role models

Women in executive roles have long been under-networked, under-appreciated and underrepresented. Business, particularly the exclusive and elusive world of venture capital firms, are highly male-dominant. The last bastion of boys clubs in the financial world, females in leadership positions in particular are far and few between.

Boston-based Diane Hessan defied the norms, clinching the position as one of the few female CEOs in Massachusetts’s capital. Hessan is joined by Sarah Downey, who is a principal at Accomplice, a venture capital firm based in Cambridge. Both women banded together to found the city’s first Rev Boston initiative, which “is designed to launch female tech leaders on a trajectory toward the top, focusing on how to position themselves as investors, public figures, and philanthropists,” according to a Boston Globe article.

Hessan and Downey make the point that many women reach upper-level management positions but fail to break the glass to reach the high positions one can assume in a corporation. Referring to themselves as “Revvers” in the article, Hessan and Downey are “offering workshops on developing business strategy and management skills, finding the right board memberships, and how to begin raising venture funds should they decide to go out on their own,” as explained in the article. This follows the little-known, but widely-felt, fact that “only 7 percent of partners at top-100 venture firms are women.”

In Boston, a city filled with phenomenal business schools and an even greater number of phenomenal female business students, future prospects can be a harsh reality. The hours and dedication women put into being committed students often seem fruitless when those of our gender cannot reach the highest levels of success. 

The ratio of female to male students at Boston University is 60 to 40 percent. Female students attend the same classes, apply for the same internships and undergo the same college experience. Yet there is always a level of subliminal differentiation.

Initiatives and conferences like Rev Boston are important for females not only through their networking capabilities but for their camaraderie. Rev Boston is different from other initiatives through its success-driven and goal-oriented focus, setting itself apart from other like sororities. This is not casual and social, but rather a launching point. Encouragement is needed for goal setting. On both sides of the Charles River, women are looking for mentors and leaders but oftentimes cannot do so, or at least in high-achieving leadership positions.

For women in particular, it is taboo to ask for assistance of any kind. To take male positions, women must emulate the strong, solitary mentality of men. That being said, ultimate invincibility is impossible. Women require networks where they can lean on one another while simultaneously leaning in, to use a term coined by girl-boss herself Sheryl Sandberg.

The Daily Free Press’s editorial board is comprised of all women with the exception of two males. The top three most prestigious positions at The Harvard Crimson are also held by women. Though this is not reflected vastly across other realms of business, we’d like to think there is a change coming.

For every position held for what may seem like eternities by an older man, there is a young woman waiting patiently. As long as there are resources like Rev Boston, these women will eye and hopefully assume some of those roles.