21 February 2009
Women Surviving at the Top
Sudbury Ontario - At Canadian Pacific Railway, Cathy
Moher, yard manager in Sudbury, Ont., has found opportunities.
"There is no end to the possibilities you can achieve with CP," said the mother of two.
With a father who was a CP railway conductor and a grandfather who was a dispatcher/telegrapher - he'd relay messages to train crews
telling them where to clear opposing trains - "I knew the railway." What she didn't know two decades ago was the range of
opportunities she would experience with the company.
She began as an operator - a liaison between rail-traffic controllers/dispatchers and conductors and engineers, ensuring
train documents were delivered - in Schreiber, Ont., in 1989. She has been in her current job for almost three years overseeing six
managers, 38 train-crew employees and 15 mechanical employees. Prior to that, the 45-year-old worked in
various jobs, including six years as a terminal co-ordinator in Saratoga, N.Y., overseeing mostly male workers older than
herself. She was initially viewed with suspicion, but over time her staff got used to the idea of a female boss.
Now at CP, cited for 2009 as one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers, 10 percent of the 16,000-strong workforce
(including its U.S. operations) is female. Of the 1,200 women working at CP in Canada, 200 are in field operations. And in the
executive ranks, 50 percent are women, far ahead of the national average.
Research has demonstrated a strong business case for gender diversity and for programs that permit women to get ahead - particularly
in leadership positions. Catalyst, a U.S.-based organization that researches women's advancement in the workplace, has
done numerous studies that point to a strong correlation between gender diversity at an organization and its financial performance.
A 2004 Catalyst study of Fortune 500 companies found those with the highest representation of women in top management positions
performed better financially than those with the lowest women's representation. Return On Equity (ROE), was 35 percent higher and
total return to shareholders (defined as capital gains plus dividends) was one-third higher.
Deborah Gillis, who leads the Canadian office of Catalyst, says when organizations promote a diverse working environment, "the
research shows employees report stronger career satisfaction. They believe they have a stronger chance to advance and feel they can
fully contribute." That means better staff retention and more productivity and profitability within an organization, which is
particularly important in these times of economic hardship, she says.
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