EAST LANSING, Mich. – A new study released today by Inforum and Michigan State University finds that top female executives earn an average of 49 cents to the dollar compared to male officers at Michigan’s largest public corporations. Women hold less than 6 percent of top-officer positions and less than 10 percent of board seats, according to the 2005 “Michigan Women’s Leadership Index.”

The index is a unique look at the presence of top women leaders of the “Michigan Index 100” – the 100 largest publicly held corporations, according to market capitalization, in the state. Administered by MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR), the project was commissioned by Inforum, formerly the Women’s Economic Club.

“The 2005 results are discouraging,” said Terry Barclay, CEO of Inforum. “With a 20 percent decline in women officers at Index 100 companies and a wage gap that is much wider than the national one, top women aren’t faring nearly as well as people believe.”

Using the language of sports to characterize companies, those with the highest scores are identified as “most valuable players (MVPs),” those with mid-level scores are “in the game” and companies with no women officers or board directors are “on the sidelines.”

Key findings from the survey:

• For the second time, FNBH Bancorp of Howell was the highest-scoring company with three women officers (of five top-compensated) and 27 percent women directors.
• Only six companies earned MVP status in this year’s study, compared to 10 in 2003.
• Five of the six MVPs, Compuware, Energy Conversion Devices, FNBH Bancorp, Somanetics and X-Rite are repeat MVPs. Only Steelcase moved up this year to MVP status.
• Not a single Fortune 500 company made the MVP list in 2005.

Of the 100 companies studied, only one female officer currently earns more than male officers in the same company. Women earned an average of $317,380, while men earned an average of $650,509, excluding bonus and stock options.

“Much of this disparity is due to the total lack of women officers in Fortune 500 companies,” said Nat Ehrlich, survey specialist at MSU. “In these companies, officers average almost $1.5 million per year.”

According to the report, women hold 5.7 percent of top-five compensated officer positions in Michigan’s Index 100 – down 20 percent from 2003. They hold 9.9 percent of board of director’s seats, roughly the same as two years ago. Only 21 companies have one or more female officers.

In addition to individually scoring and ranking each company, the Women’s Leadership Index also evaluates the presence of women executives and board members by sector.

• Of the eight sectors identified, only two sectors, technology and life science and real estate and construction, improved their scores from 2003.
• The largest sector, automotive, received the lowest overall score, with nine of the 20 companies “on the sidelines.”

Inforum is one of the largest and most prestigious business programs of its kind in the nation, with over 2,000 members from a broad cross-section of Michigan’s business community and chapters in southeast Michigan, Lansing and, soon to be announced, west Michigan.

MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research extends scholarly expertise to Michigan’s policymaking community by proving top-notch research, ongoing discussion and world-class political leadership training.

Complete copies of the 2005 Women’s Leadership Index Report are available at www.inforummichigan.org