Still A Men's Club

Maggie Bellville is hardly alone.

The resignation of one of the highest profile female MSO execs personifies an emerging trend that — after years of upward mobility — the ranks of senior female executives is thinning.

According to the latest figures from the FCC, women accounted for just 34.4% of officials and managers for cable operators, down from 35.2% in 1998 and 36%.

Even worse, Women In Cable & Telecommunications says women made up a whopping 74% of the reduction of 1,565 positions reported by cable companies from 1998 to 1999.

So what’s happening?

"Women are finally waking up the notion that they don’t have to put up with old rules that don’t fit their needs," says Ann Carlsen, founder of executive recruiting firm Carlsen & Associates. "The MSO side of the business has always been a very fraternal group. "For her part, Bellville says there’s only so much bending women should have to do to fit the MSO’s male-driven culture.

"At the end of the day women should be proud of what they are and not try to change and hide what they bring to the table because what they bring to the table is important," she says. "It is valued and will continue to be valued by enlightened organizations."

Without question, there are a num-

ber of women running networks and cable-related companies — Maggie Wilderotter of Wink Communications; Geraldine Laybourne of Oxygen and Carole Black of Lifetime, among many others.

However, there’s a dearth of female CEOs running MSOs. Kim Kelly, as COO of Insight Communications, and Teresa Elder, president of AT&T Broadband West, come the closest these days.

Yet there are also more women moving into jobs that have been historically held by men, says Ann Burr, Time Warner Cable EVP. It’s possible that the MSO business is changing in ways that might lead to women having more important roles.

"There’s finally a realization that the marketing and customer service aspects of the business — positions predominately held by women in the past — is becoming even more important to the overall success of the business," Carlsen says.

But in the meantime, the numbers don’t look good.

In 1999 women represented barely more than 40% the cable operator work force according to the FCC report , down from 41.7% in 1998 and 42% in 1997.

The idea that the percentage of women in the cable business is dropping after years of gains "should be deeply disturbing to those in positions of power within the cable industry," says WICT spokesman Jim Flanigan.

The trend could be particularly deadly for operators that rely on a steady stream of employees to keep up with business. Many women are leaving the industry because they feel they can’t advance or are not given fair compensation by their employers, Flanigan says. If women in top spots can’t move up and they leave, it leaves no role models for the women wanting to come up behind them, and they end up leaving, too.

"Basically, you lose your farm team," Flanigan says.

NCTA president Robert Sachs defended the industry’s record, noting that there are several women in the top ranks of the NCTA itself and at cable programmers.

"There are a finite number of COO, CEO positions," Sachs says, and points to the diversity committee formed by the industry to look into issues like this. "We’re trying to see who is doing what most effectively and how that can be supported even more."

Of course, the number of women at top programming spots begs the question of why that success hasn’t translated to MSOs.

The networks are "risk-takers. Most started from nothing," notes one MSO female executive.

When it comes to existing cable workers, a July 2000 WICT poll found that 38% of women surveyed believe that the lack of high visibility projects or professional development was the biggest obstacle of their jobs. Another 27% say that discrimination in hiring and promoting women is their biggest challenge.

"It’s hard to find women who can move in [operating] circles very well," says one highly placed female executive at a top 10 MSO. "You have to have a personality that can deal with that. When Carly Fiorina became head of Hewlett Packard, she said she had trouble moving up because she didn’t play by the men’s rules. She didn’t play golf; she didn’t go out and drink with them after work. She went home to her family. She cooked. And she persevered. She won by her own rules. That’s my kind of role model."

Women are still fighting some of the same issues they fought for during the feminist movement of the 1970s and ’80s — equal pay for equal work and opportunities for advancement.

Not only that, but the perception of how women operate in their jobs continues to be scrutinized differently. If a woman is aggressive she is still often derided for her management technique. Some industry insiders questioned whether Bellville’s ability to knock heads and get things done was a reason for some internal friction that eventually resulted in her resigning at Cox.

"I doubt that if [Cox CFO] Jimmy Hayes was aggressive, he’d be referred to negatively," says one female cable executive. "The industry and the press are still playing to those old, tired double standards."

With men running the business, they’re most comfortable hiring and promoting other men, Carlsen adds.

"I’ve often wondered whether white male CEOs have surrounded themselves with other white male executives is because they know deep down in their hearts that they’re going to be the true minority in the future, and they’re trying to hold on to their dominant position for as long as they can," one female cable executive says.

Fair and equitable hiring and promotions practices must start at the top, says Italia Commisso Weinand, SVP at Mediacom Communications, whose brother, Rocco Commisso, is chairman and CEO of the MSO. But employees must be able to rise through the ranks, and that has traditionally been more difficult for women.

"For one thing, I think operators need to bring people in the door that they can bring up from the bottom," she says. "Traditionally, that’s not been the case." Women have been disadvantaged in the past because most advancement from within cable’s ranks has come from the engineering and technical side of the business. Many upper level executives have had to be recruited from outside the industry because there is such a small pool from which to choose, Weinand says.

If an employee doesn’t believe she can move up the ladder, she’ll likely choose to leave her job in favor of another industry that is more amenable to gender blindness, Flanigan adds.

Even though the cable industry is known for its "good old boy" networking — there are no women executives on NCTA’s executive board, for instance — AT&T’s Elder doesn’t feel she has been discriminated against or looked over for job advancement at any time in her career.

"In fact, I’d say I was put on a pretty fast track for advancement," she says. "I’ve had a great career, and I’ve got a great job."

Elder oversees 15,000 employees and is responsible for systems that count 7 million customers. Of the unit’s 58 senior level executives (VP and above), 25 are women.

That same gender-blind philosophy is evident at Insight, where nine of the 15 most senior execs are women.

"I think it might be easier for women at smaller companies to move ahead because there are fewer steps to the top," says Isabelle Arace, VP-human resources for Insight Communications.

At larger companies, even if women advance, there are many men already waiting for promotions.

"Look at Time Warner. It has a slew of women at the VP level, but there are only so many jobs, and there are a lot of men who’ve been moving up the pipeline a lot longer that are waiting in the wings for those top spots," Carlsen says.

The number of women VPs at Time Warner has risen in the past five years. Burr says the number of female VPs at corporate has gone from 21% in 1995 to 23% in 2000. The number of women holding divisional VP jobs has gone up from 25% in 1995 to 29% in 2000.

"We’re definitely seeing some positive trends in senior positions in the feeder pipeline, which is the VP layer of the company," Burr says. "We may not be where we want to be, but we are encouraged by our own results."

Some of the attrition on the operating side of the cable business is being blamed on opportunities outside the industry.

Like many of the their male colleagues, many female cable executives saw the allure of dot-coms as a new challenge and chance to move ahead. Internet-related firms have a reputation of being more flexible to workers’ work/life issues, some experts say, and that was an attractive lure for some women.

Part of the defection by women in the industry could be attributed to the fact that many are so well trained, they are being recruited by other sectors and industries, says Patti Klinge, AT&T Broadband’s EVP-human resources.

A number of women have also chosen to go the route of entrepreneurs and start their own business, she adds.

"In my 25 years in human resources, I have never seen the level of competition for good leadership as I see today," she says, noting that includes every company in the country. While AT&T lost some employees — both women and men — when it merged with MediaOne Group last year, Klinge say women hold 30% of the SVP and above positions. More than a third of the company’s VPs are women.

Without question, a flexible corporate culture is increasingly important to younger workers. A recent study by Jobtrack.com surveyed more than 2,000 college students and found that 42% of the respondents felt that work/life balance was the most important issue when looking for a job, while only 26% felt that compensation was the No. 1 objective when evaluating job offers.

Eventually, experts insist, the disparity between men and women, as well as the inequities for minorities in corporate suites around the country, will disappear due simply to economics. Companies that refuse to bring along women and minorities will be left out in the cold. Companies need qualified workers to do an ever-increasingly difficult job of gaining customers and rolling out new services — regardless of race, creed or gender.

"Let’s face it, if you believe the studies, white men will the minority by 2010," says one female executive. "That means if they don’t get with the program, they’re going to be left out in the cold."

Shirley Brady contributed to this story.