Ever since the Democratic and Republican Conventions, I have been thinking about how truly impressed I am by the strides women have made both in politics and business over the past few decades. In honor of this historic year I’d like to take a moment and reflect on some of these groundbreaking accomplishments.
I recently learned that women are being elected to government in bigger numbers than ever before. The number of women serving in Congress has hit an historic high—with 74 in the House of Representatives and 16 in the Senate. California, the home state of Zecco, has sent two female Senators to Washington. Another Californian, San Francisco Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, became highest ranking female in government when she assumed the role of Speaker of the House in 2007.
And who will ever forget the unprecedented run for the highest office this year by Senator Hillary Clinton, culminating in her remarkable and inspiring speech at the Democratic Convention (given on the 88th anniversary of the day the constitution was amended giving women the right to vote):
“Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”
Just days after Clinton’s speech, that glass ceiling was shattered on the other side of the aisle as well when Sarah Palin was named the first ever female VP candidate on a Republican ticket. She too wowed at the GOP convention and I’m looking forward to seeing her in the debate tonight. The impressive showings by powerhouse women at this year’s conventions kept coming with speeches from Michelle Obama, Convention Chair Nancy Pelosi, co-chair Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and many more. At the Republican Convention two huge business powerhouses-- Ebay chief Meg Whitman and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina graced the stage. Behind the scenes women were running the show too with Ms. Leah D. Daughtry as CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee and Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin serving as co-chairs of the Democratic Convention and Jo Ann Davidson, Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Women aren’t just breaking down barriers in politics. The number of women at the helm of Fortune 500 companies has increased this year to thirteen from just one twelve years ago. And they’ve delivered to shareholders: companies run by women CEOs have seen stock performance equal to companies run by men over the past few years according to a study by USA Today. Under CEO Andrea Jung’s watch, Avon Products (AVP) stock rose 20% in 2007 and is still going strong. Western Union’s (WU) Christina Gold greatly expanded the territory of her company and saw the stock price jump 8% in 2007. Under CEO Indra Nooyi’s leadership, PepsiCo’s (PEP) saw a 21% increase in its stock price in 2007. Very impressive numbers given the crazy markets these days.
At Zecco we have a powerhouse female presence as well. The Women on Investing and Chick Picks groups feature serious female investors. There are also a lot of active female investors at Zecco, like emobrien who has been very active in ZeccoShare, MoonBlossom who is rocking her equity investments with a 57% return and JumpnJen who is up 167% on her ZYXI investment. I look forward to seeing more and more women jump into the game!Zecco.com is a financial portal of Zecco Holdings, Inc., which also provides access to Zecco Trading, Inc.’s trading service. Zecco Holdings, inc. is not a securities broker/dealer. All securities and investments are offered to self-directed investors by Zecco Trading, Inc. Member FINRA /SIPC. More information is located on the disclosures page.