The Illinois Fortune 1000 companies with the most and least gender diverse corporate boards

In 2011, women held 14.6 percent of corporate board seats across all Fortune 1000 companies. To improve that figure, two women founders launched 2020 Women on Boards, a national campaign to increase the percentage of board seats held by women to 20% or greater by 2020.

Today, the non-profit released its annual Gender Diversity Index, revealing how far corporations have come to hitting the goal and how much further they have to go. According to the index, women now sit on 18.8 percent of board seats, up from 17.7 percent the previous year.

The rankings categorize every company by four designations - (W)inning, companies that have 20 percent or greater women on their board, (V)ery Close, companies with 11-19 percent, (T)oken, companies with one woman, and (Z)ero, companies with no women on their board. Read the rest of the story on ChicagoInno.

See the complete list of all "Winning" companies.

Four Supreme Court Justices Featured in Grand-Scale Painting at the National Portrait Gallery

The Four Justices by Nelson Shanks;  2012;
Ian and Annette Cumming Collection, on loan
to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will display a loaned portrait of the first female Supreme Court Justices, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, beginning Oct. 28. The 9-foot-6-inch by 7-foot-9-inch oil painting by the artist Nelson Shanks features the four women in an interior based on the Supreme Court Building; it will be displayed in the museum for three years.

This portrait recognizes the achievements of these four women—the first to serve on the nation’s highest court.

“The scale of this painting speaks to the grand accomplishments made by these four women and the example they set for future generations,” said Kim Sajet, director of the museum. “I imagine this portrait will spark a conversation among young people, particularly young women, about breaking barriers.” Read more from the news desk of Smithsonian.

Working moms have more successful daughters and more caring sons, Harvard Business School study says

The guilt many working mothers confess to may be real, but it’s looking less and less warranted.

According to a working paper (pdf) published June 19 by the Harvard Business School, daughters of working mothers are more likely to be employed, hold supervisory positions, and earn more money than the daughters of women who don’t work outside the home. The researchers also found a statistically significant effect on the sons of working women, who are likely to spend more time caring for family members and doing household chores than are the sons of stay-at-home mothers.

Analyzing data from two dozen countries, the researchers concluded that the daughters of employed mothers are 4.5% more likely to be employed themselves than are the daughters of stay-at-home mothers. While this number may seem small, it is statistically significant at the 99% level, meaning there is less than a 1% chance that such a result is due to chance.

Even more surprising, says Kathleen McGinn, a professor at Harvard Business School and the lead author of the study, is the effect that working mothers have on their daughters’ chances of being a supervisor at work. “We did expect that it would effect employment but we didn’t expect that it would effect supervisory responsibility,” she tells Quartz. Read the story on Quartz.

Jennifer Lawrence Highlights Wage Inequality

Photo by Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons Attribution-
Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

"All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would've thought I had said something offensive," says 'Hunger Games' star in Lena Dunham's 'Lenny Letter'

Jennifer Lawrence opened up about feminism and wage inequality in an essay featured in Lena Dunham's "Lenny Letter" newsletter titled "Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?" The Hunger Games star wrote that she was candid about her initial reticence when the feminism conversation seemed to be "trending" and because she didn't think her experiences were relatable, but she's speaking out about wage inequality and unfair perceptions. Read the story in Rolling Stone.

Amy Guth takes aim at online harassment of women

Celebrated Chicago journalist Amy Guth knows what it’s like to be the target of vicious and terrifying harassment by online trolls — and to be advised by well-meaning friends to pretend it didn’t happen.

She’s not pretending anymore.

On Wednesday Guth launched a Kickstarter campaign to secure funds for production of an ambitious documentary series about “harassment and civility in the online world and how it relates to women.”

The untitled series, which will be released in episode form over two seasons or more, will explore women’s stories in the digital world and delve into the complex and widespread problem of invisible predators on social media. As host and producer, Guth already has begun lining up interviews around the country. Read more by Robert Feder.

Illinois teens selected for national women's mentoring program

Two Illinois teens are making a difference in people’s lives, thanks to inspiration and financial support from a national mentoring program.

Jaiden Fallo, of Chicago, and Ava Polzin, of Libertyville, are among 50 people nationwide selected from 2,476 who applied for this year’s ANNpower Vital Voices Initiative. The initiative aims to seek out the next generation of female leaders.

Fallo, 17, is trying to shrink the gender gap in computer science. Polzin, 18, is helping Native American girls learn about music. Read more in the Chicago SunTimes.

Glenbard East's Rebecca Deluca-Lane scores an IHSA first

Like other Glenbard East football parents, Colleen Lane was milling around in the tent behind the north end zone last Friday when there occurred something relatively ordinary yet totally unique.

The Rams completed a pass deep in East Aurora territory that was fumbled. The football bounced off an East Aurora player and was recovered in the end zone by another Ram for a Glenbard East touchdown.

That will happen. The player who scored is what made it special.

"When I heard the referee yell, ‘Let go of her!' I'm like, ‘I know that her. That's my kid,'" Lane said.

Her?

Yes. Her.

Senior Rebecca Deluca-Lane recovered that fumble in the end zone to record a touchdown. According to an unofficial state media survey conducted by Illinois High School Association assistant executive director Matt Troha, who also asked around the IHSA offices in Bloomington, it's the first known touchdown scored by a female varsity high school football player in Illinois. Read the story in the Daily Herald.