Written by:
Julia Bloch
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this Issue of Curve:
Vol. 14#7
The Top 15 Companies for Lesbians in 2004
By Julia Bloch
When an auto maker sponsors a Pride festival but is sued by the Environmental Protection Agency for dumping cancer-causing chemicals, or a beverage producer has a solid nondiscrimination clause for queer employees but no female execs, what’s a conscientious lesbian career-seeker to do?
Cross-reference, of course. We took the Fortune 500 companies that scored 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (which measures how companies treat LGBT employees, consumers and investors), did a little muckraking of our own and came up with Curve’s Top 15 based on a company’s bigger picture — how they score with women, people of color, the disabled and working moms. So try this handy score card on for size the next time you’re sending out résumés.
1. IBM
Why They’re Here:
OK, check it. The gigantic computer biz wins our top prize for being an overall excellent company to work for, not only for gays and lesbians but also for working mothers, women of color, disabled folks and other diversity groups. Thirty-six (count ’em) global councils advise IBM on women’s issues; long before the Americans With Disabilities Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of disability, the company was a leader in recruiting differently abled employees and execs; its many accolades include awards from Catalyst, the National Society of Black Engineers and the Asian American Business Development Center; in 1984, IBM became the first major company to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy; and in 2002, IBM became the highest Fortune 500 company to add gender identity or expression to its nondiscrimination policy. Word.
Why They Could Do Better:
IBM could stand to do some work on increasing women directors (just two out of 12 are female, and there are no women among their top earners), plus, well, there’s the matter of all those pesky lawsuits charging Big Blue with exposing its workers to cancer-causing materials. (Some union members believe the accusations are a large part of IBM’s decision to ship an overwhelming number of jobs overseas.)
2. Xerox
Why They’re Here:
When Anne Mulcahy became the first woman CEO in Xerox’s history, she did more than yank the company out of bankruptcy: She also increased women VPs to a triumphant 26 percent. Plus, new hires in 2004 were 38 percent folks of color, and tree-huggers were glad when Xerox adopted an environmentally friendly closed-loop production system that also saved the company $300 million over three years. Copy on.
What They Could Do Better:
Oops! Six former top Xerox execs were recently found by the SEC to have illegally inflated company profits by $1.4 billion, misleading investors and pocketing lots of extra cash in personal pay. Whip ’em into shape, Anne!
3. Prudential
Why They’re Here:
Who knew the insurance giant had quietly become a diversity vanguard? One out of four vice chairs is a woman and 60 percent of promotions went to women; the Rock also does well by working moms as well as trans, Latina, and disability communities.
Why They Could Do Better:
The country’s largest insurance company was at the center of massive securities fraud in the 1980s and now has gigantic ownings in stinky tobacco companies, including $97 million in Philip Morris.
4. Hewlett-Packard
Why They’re Here:
Quite simply, HP’s bustin’ out all over the top diversity lists; highlights include the fact that women make up 40 percent of participants in its accelerated development program and that the company had the good sense to can a staffer who put up antigay propaganda in his office. We also love that HP operates its own recycling center, saving countless toxic and nonbiodegradable computer products from landfills. HP also employs the country’s highest-ranking gay African-American staffer at a Fortune 500 company.
Why They Could Do Better:
The Los Angeles Times reported last year that HP is on a long list of American companies that used the U.S. government’s help to provide millions’ worth of supplies to Saddam Hussein, arguably enabling his rise to power in Iraq.
5. American Express
Why They’re Here:
American Express In addition to its overall diversity excellence, AmEx made it to Working Mother magazine’s elite top 10 list. Plus, the number of senior women on staff has grown from 19 percent in 1990 to 31 percent in 2000, which, we hate to say, is relatively a very high percentage.
Why They Could Do Better:
Despite its good works, AmEx has been plagued by a number of lawsuits across the country charging sex discrimination. The card is also a hefty GOP contributor (in the last three presidential campaigns, 35.7 percent more cash went to Republican than to Democratic candidates).
6. Citigroup
Why They’re Here:
We sure do like the fact that women make up 56 percent of Citigroup’s total work force, 55 percent of new hires, 46 percent of management and 28 percent of the highest-paid employees. Citi has also donated over $8 million to various African-American, Latino/a, Asian-American and LGBT groups.
Why They Could Do Better:
Apparently, we need to chat about class: Last May, Citigroup agreed to pay $70 million to settle an investigation by the Federal Reserve that alleged it discriminated against low-income borrowers. It also shelled out $240 million back in 2002 to settle charges that it tried to deceive customers in debt into purchasing home-loan insurance.
7. Cisco Systems
Why They’re Here:
The communications giant earned top marks from Latina and other groups for its diversity recruitment programs; Cisco also gets points for its work/life resource and referral program, which assists employees with issues like adoption and breast-feeding, and its national child-care center operator, which serves employees throughout the country.
Why They Could Do Better:
Cisco is one of the main companies at the heart of the bitter debate around the “outsourcing revolution,” which concerns companies who ship their IT and customer service jobs overseas to drive down costs.
8. Aetna
Why They’re Here:
Aetna is lauded by women’s and women-of-color orgs for its fast-track leadership programs and networks. It also happens to be a leader in disability employment advocacy and is a founding member of the National Business and Disability Council.
Why They Could Do Better:
Health-care activists weren’t impressed when the health giant lobbied heavily for passage of the new Medicare bill late last year, which names Aetna itself as one of the companies hand-picked to provide prescription-drug cards to Medicare recipients. The bill has come under fire for transforming Medicare into a private insurance program and setting the stage for massive benefits cuts. The country’s largest insurance company was also named in a federal class-action lawsuit charging it profited from the slave trade. (Aetna has publicly apologized for having ties to slavery.)
9. JP Morgan Chase
Why They’re Here:
The financial behemoth excels on the diversity lists: working mother, Latina, African American, Asian American … shall we go on? We shall: In 1997, JP became the first Wall Street firm to offer same-sex partner benefits.
Why They Could Do Better:
As Michael Douglas says in Wall Street, “Every dream comes with a price.” Along with Citigroup, JP Morgan agreed to pay more than $300 million to settle investigations into their shady role in the Enron scandal.
10. Ford Motor
Why They’re Here:
Ford was one of the first companies to actively market to the LGBT community and has a stellar track record in supplier diversity. Plus, it’s heavily marketing a hybrid SUV, which is more than we can say for a lot of auto makers.
Why They Could Do Better:
Despite its hybrid, Ford still ranks last in fuel efficiency of U.S.-sold cars. Plus, Ford’s external diversity council is chaired by Julian Bond, chair of the NAACP, but the NAACP itself gave the company only a B- on its automotive report card, which measures a company’s treatment of African Americans.
11. Eastman Kodak
Why They’re Here:
Kodak began offering DP benefits ahead of its time (1997) and made headlines in 2002 when it fired a staffer who couldn’t get with the company’s pro-gay policies. Kodak also increased its women senior execs by 10 percent in just one year.
Why They Could Do Better:
The really, really bad news: Kodak has earned the dubious honor of being the No. 1 polluter in the state of New York. Monroe County, where Kodak is based, is in the highest 10 percent for mortality rates for 13 different cancers; women living near Kodak Park have an approximately 80 percent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer; and young girls in Monroe County have excessively high rates of thyroid cancer. Time to clean it up.
12. Motorola
Why They’re Here:
In addition to being on Woman Engineer’s top 50 list, Moto is a founding member of the National Business and Disability Council. Diversity experts at Catalyst give kudos to Motorola for increasing its women-of-color VPs from one in 1991 to 11 in 1999 — out of a total of 54 women VPs.
Why They Could Do Better:
Remember the Augusta National Golf Club, which felt so strongly about barring women from becoming members that it went to court over it? One of its big-business boy members is Motorola chair and CEO Christopher B. Galvin. When asked by women’s groups to explain how the company reconciles its representation in Augusta with its corporate nondiscrimination policies, Moto refused.
13. Bausch & Lomb
Why They’re Here:
Bausch & Lomb The eye-care company has given women and people of color an innovative boost in career development, and sets hiring and retention goals for a diverse work force, earning the company an award for diversity from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Why They Could Do Better:
Despite the fact that the FDA does not explicitly require contact-lens products to be tested on our furry friends, B&L persists in test-driving its products on animals. Anyone who wants cruelty-free vision, raise your paw.
14. SC Johnson & Son
Why They’re Here:
While it’s conspicuously missing from a few key diversity lists, including women executives and DiversityInc, SC Johnson & Son has been recognized as a leader for working moms and this year won an Employer of the Year award from the National Business and Disability Council.
Why They Could Do Better:
The company whose household staples include Drano, Pledge and Shout has long been on animal lovers’ boycott lists of companies that persist in cruelly testing their products on animals. Keep calling for smarter testing till you see the little bunny on their labels.
15. Pfizer
Why They’re Here:
Pfizer has a solid record on LGBT and disability issues — its efforts include actively recruiting LGBT MBA grads — earning it a score of 100 on HRC’s index for the first time in 2004.
Why They Could Do Better:
Health-care activists have never been huge fans of the company that once suggested the FDA do away with those pesky little rules requiring drug companies to clearly list their side effects. Pfizer recently cut off all shipments of medications to Canadian mail-order pharmacies in a cynical attempt to prevent Americans from obtaining drugs more cheaply (side effects include barring Canadians’ access to those drugs). Gesundheit.
Sources: Human Rights Campaign ( http://www.hrc.org ), National Association for Female Executives ( http://www.nafe.com ), Equal Opportunity Publications ( http://www.eop.com ), National Business and Disability Council ( http://www.business-disability.com ), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( http://www.naacp.org ), DiversityInc ( http://www.diversityinc.com ), Working Mother ( http://www.workingmother.com ), Latina Style ( http://www.latinastyle.com ), Catalyst ( http://www.catalystwomen.org ). Additional research provided by Shannon Clawson and Andy Wright.
Is Your Company Missing?
There are plenty of other Fortune 500s that do right by gays and lesbians, it’s true. Our list covers the most remarkable ones we could find. From worthy contenders to obvious losers, here are a few that didn’t make our cut.
• Avon: One of the very few Fortune 500s with a woman CEO and official sponsor of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, but offers no diversity training on LGBT issues and no written nondiscrimination policy that includes gender identity or expression.
• Capital One: Has a solid record on LGBT and other diversity workplace issues, but in the last three presidential campaigns, donated a whopping 267 percent more to Republican candidates than Democrats. Has also come under fire for age discrimination.
• Coors: We just can’t forgive this official sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign for lobbying heavily against the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have guaranteed equal protections for women; campaigning against affirmative action; and engaging in really mean anti-immigration antics. Coors guys are always getting into hot water with communities of color (William Coors reportedly once told a largely African-American audience that slavery was a good thing for their ancestors), and Coors LGBT liaison Mary Cheney refuses to speak out against her VP dad’s anti-gay antics (see www.www.dearmary.com).
• The Gap: Has no written nondiscrimination policy that includes gender identity or expression; has no official LGBT employee group. Plus, see www.globalexchange.org for what Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic could still be doing to address the egregious sweatshop conditions that produce their clothing.
• MBNA: Not only did MBNA earn a pathetic 43 on HRC’s Equality Index, but it is also the No. 1 contributor to President Bush’s reelection campaign. MBNA even donated money to Focus on the Family, the anti-gay organization that lobbies against Harry Potter, abortion, sex ed and gay marriage and heralded the current rise of the ugly “ex-gay” movement. Of course, MBNA sponsors socially responsible credit cards like the Working Assets VISA and the Rainbow Card — but many dykes would rather write a check directly to groups that benefit from those spin-offs.
• Microsoft: Has no written nondiscrimination policy that includes gender identity or expression.
• Verizon: Has earned points for racial and ethnic diversity, but has no written nondiscrimination policy that includes gender identity or expression.
• Wal-Mart: Voted the No. 1 organization for multicultural business opportunities (by women- and minority-owned businesses) in 2003, but is nonetheless notorious for union-busting and exploiting part-time workers to avoid paying them benefits. Offers no domestic-partner benefits, has no written nondiscrimination policy that includes gender identity or expression, and has no official LGBT employee group.
Got something to add? Contact us at letters@curvemag.com to tell us why your company should(or shouldn’t) be on our list. |
