Don’t tell the folks at Reuters, but it is no longer necessary to point out that a woman is a woman. They seem to have inadvertently discovered that at least in some places, the glass ceiling is semi-permeable.
The headline “Citigroup Taps Woman to Run Consumer Unit” is an insult. Would they have pointed out this promotion had she been a man? Is it not the least bit important to note that her male boss is vacating her new office to become the COO? If they thought the “woman” angle was so important, they could have said “Citigroup Names Marjorie Magner as Global Consumer Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer” as Business Wire chose to do. This approach is subtle and commendable; it conveys the information without sending signal flares of femininity. They furthermore went on to speak glowingly of her accomplishments as an executive, adding the usual sentence or so to point out her son. Perfectly standard treatment for a brief introduction. Dow Jones didn’t consider her gender as issue at all, only using her first name once, no biographical content, dropping the “Ms.” Citigroup’s own press release on the issue was much more informal, calling her “Marge.”
Reuters might be genuinely surprised to know that Ms. Magner is not the only female executive out there. She is blessed with plenty of company on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. Female CEOs can even be found, and not just at “female oriented” businesses such as Avon. New economy companies like Ebay and even stodgy old Dow components like Hewlett-Packard have female CEOs. Women have offices in high places in a wide variety of industries, including banking, media companies, retail, pharmaceutical companies, airlines, food products, consumer products, electronics, oil companies, and brokerages. They may not be as plentiful as their Y chromosome bearing brethren, but there is no reason to shout “Hey, look, it’s a woman in the corner office!”
Congratulations on the promotion, Ms. Magner. I’m sure you are the right person for the job.