CORVALLIS -- A study conducted in part by an Oregon State professor suggests that women executives leave their jobs at twice the rate of men.
While there have been several high profile cases recently - Carly Fiorina getting sacked at HP - little is known about the vast majority of departures, said John Becker-Blease.
He is an assistant professor of finance at Oregon State and lead author of the study along with co-authors based at Loyola Marymount University and Trinity College.
About 7.2 percent of women executives in the survey left their jobs, compared to 3.8 percent of men. Both the voluntary rates (4.3 percent versus 2.8 percent for men) and the involuntary rates (2.9 versus 0.9 percent) were higher for women executives.
Becker-Blease said women are more likely to leave a job due to domestic or social responsibilities than men. He also said the higher rate of firings suggests that women in mid-management don't get the professional support to move up.
“We really had to dig deep to tease out any systematic patterns behind these departures,” Becker-Blease said. “We did find that women were slightly more likely to leave smaller firms, and firms with more male-dominated boards, but this was a small effect size.”
“Women benefit from women in positions of leadership,” Becker-Blease said. “Our study contributes to the small body of work out there on women at the executive level. I think it is reasonably good news for women, in that we did not find evidence of discrimination at an obvious level, but the different rates of departure from the executive ranks is troubling.”
A 2009 report showed only 13 women CEOs among Fortune 500 companies.
His report has been published in the October issue of "Economic Inquiry." (registration required)
