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I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English
Economics Report.
Women lead eight of the 500 largest American companies. The number
fell last week when the directors of Hewlett-Packard asked Carly Fiorina
to resign. A day later, the Sara Lee Corporation named Brenda Barnes as
its chief executive officer.
Carly Fiorina was the first chief executive chosen from outside
Hewlett-Packard. She was brought in to make changes at the technology
company. Fortune magazine named her "the most powerful woman in business."
Soon after she arrived at H-P, Miz Fiorina stated that "there is no
glass ceiling." A lot of people thought she meant that women and
minorities face no barriers to rising in companies. A research group,
Catalyst, found that women held 16 percent of top jobs at the largest
American companies in 2002. Miz Fiorina said her point was that people who
see possibilities do better over time than those who see limitations.
Many chief executives keep their jobs just three or four years. Miz
Fiorina stayed almost six. Business advisers Booz Allen Hamilton found the
world average to be around eight years.
Some people say Carly Fiorina received the same treatment that a man
would have received. Critics said she kept too much power to herself. They
said her actions harmed financial performance. H-P stock now sells for
less than half its price when she arrived.
Miz Fiorina entered into the culture of a company started in a one-car
garage in California in 1939. In 2001 she announced a deal to combine
Hewlett-Packard with Compaq Computer.
Some shareholders resisted. Walter Hewlett, the son of one of the two
men who started H-P, opposed the deal in court. But shareholders approved
it in March of 2002.
Results have been mixed. Since the merger with Compaq, H-P has
increased its share of the world computer market to almost 16
percent. But Dell has grown faster. That company now holds almost 20
percent of the highly competitive market.
Still, H-P remains the leading maker of computer printers in the world.
And it is now the 11th largest company in the United States.
The ouster of Carly Fiorina means the largest one led by a woman will
be Sara Lee. Sara Lee, best known for food products, is 104th on the
Fortune 500 list of top American companies.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter.
I'm Gwen Outen. | 
