Women in Business: Leading with Integrity

By Ashley Mazerolle, Marketing –

Women in business are setting the standard for integrity and ethical leadership, showing us a path to a fraud-free corporate world.

First off, this blog post is not about feminism. However, it’s undeniable that the evolving role of women in society has significantly impacted how the world conducts business. Today, women make up at least 50 percent of the U.S. labor force.

Promoting women’s rights and gender equality is a noble priority for many governments and companies. This effort often comes with the idea of women rising to be on par with men. Yet, when it comes to involvement in corporate crime, it’s evident that men need to rise to the moral standards often exhibited by women.

Integrity – A Breakdown by Gender
Jennifer Schwartz, Ph.D., an associate professor of sociology at Washington State University, and her colleagues have been studying corporate crimes to compare the involvement of men and women. According to Schwartz, the Corporate Fraud Task Force found 436 workers guilty of running 83 separate schemes between 2002 and 2009. Interestingly, only 37 of those guilty were women—less than 10 percent!

Further studies revealed that women were nearly always in the minority, often alone, and typically played smaller roles in these crimes. Schwartz explained this is partly because women’s job descriptions generally do not place them in positions to lead such schemes.

Fraud for Gain
Even in illicit money schemes, there is a noticeable wage gap between the sexes. Women involved in fraud gained significantly less than their male counterparts. Over half of the women received little or no compensation for their involvement, whereas men fared much better, with over half earning between $500,000 and $1 million or more.

“Women executives tend to make more ethical decisions, avoid excessive risk-taking, and create corporate cultures unsupportive of illegal business practices,” Schwartz explains. She suggests that having more female leaders could reduce corporate crime.

Whether you believe that men and women should have equal roles in the workplace or not, one thing remains clear: we must act to reduce corporate fraud. How you do that is up to you.

Photo by: Tim Mossholder