AKRON, Ohio – Summit County lags the nation on the issue of gender equity, according to a new report from an Akron-based organization.

Women, particularly women of color, are underrepresented in public and private leadership positions in the county, a study conducted by the Women’s Network of Northeast Ohio found.

Researchers last year collected data on more than 5,000 leaders at 348 employers and 167 nonprofit boards, spanning public, private, nonprofit and publicly traded companies in Summit County.

Dr. Jennifer Savitski, president of the Women’s Network of Northeast Ohio and chair of obstetrics at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, said the study was inspired by annual reports from McKinsey and Company that compile data about women in workplaces across the country.

“What we wanted to do was really take the main data points that were being looked at nationally and to look at those in Summit County,” Savitski told cleveland.com on Monday.

Women hold 18% of senior leadership positions in Summit County’s private sector, compared to 30% nationally, according to the report. Those figures fall to one percent and five percent, respectively, for women of color.

Five percent of Summit County’s mayors are women, versus 22% nationally.

Women hold 41% of the seats on nonprofit boards in the county – a figure which has not changed since 2014 – compared to 48% nationally, the report says.

Even after women break the metaphorical glass ceiling and rise to the top of their organizations, they’re often paid less than their male counterparts, according to the study.

The top-earning women in Summit County’s private sector are paid 75% of what top-earning men make. Women CEOs of nonprofits make 82% of what their male counterparts make.

Savitski said her organization conducted the grant-funded study to measure local progress, and she hopes its findings help foster change.

“We want people to really take a look at what’s going on in the individual workplaces and what are the opportunities where there could be improvement,” Savitski said.

The Women’s Network is developing surveys and specialized tool kits for businesses and organizations to help identify and address gender equity issues in each workplace. The materials are expected to be finalized by the end of this year or beginning of 2020, Savitski said.

“When an organization reflects the community in which it serves, the outcomes are always better,” Savitski said. “Not only are we saying this is the right thing to do, but this is the economic thing to do, as well, for our county.”

The study also found some areas in which Summit County had better gender equity than national numbers.

Representation of women CEOs is slightly higher in Summit County than in the top 500 companies nationally, the study found.

And women hold 66% of local judicial seats, far surpassing 33% nationally. Most notably, women hold all 10 judicial seats in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas.

“That was an effort by both men and women to help support women and to mentor and coach them to make them ready to become judges,” Savitski said. “That’s an effort that really started in the 1980s and we’re definitely seeing the fruition of that now… I think it shows that when we are intentional about what we do, we’re able to achieve that gender equity and to see the successes right here in Summit County.”

Researchers also surveyed 447 professionals in Summit County about their experiences and perspectives related to diversity and equity in the workplace.

The study found that men are more likely than women to try for a promotion or ask for a raise. Women are less likely than men to feel there are equal opportunities for growth and advancement, according to the report.

Although men and woman are equally likely to care for an adult or aging parent, women are more likely to have reduced work hours or leave a job as a result of family care demands.

Both men and women identified “unequal pay” as the most important issue facing women in the workplace.

You can read the full report here.

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