Cox ranked as best cable operator for women

CHANTILLY, Va. – The Women in Cable Telecommunications Foundation, in collaboration with Working Mother Media, has awarded Cox Communications Inc. the 2007 Forerunner Accolade for the Best Operator for Women in Cable.
The Forerunner Accolade is the top prize for cable operators in the WICT’s five-year-old PAR Initiative, which ranks companies based on their responses to a survey about pay equity, advancement opportunities and resources for work/life support. Cox has taken top honors in each of the program’s five years.
“We are humbled to again receive this prestigious recognition,” Pat Esser, president of Cox Communications, said in a statement today. “Pay equity, advancement opportunities and work/life balance are important to today’s work force. By focusing on these important standards for all of our employees, Cox is able to attract and retain better talent; grow faster; and compete more effectively.”
Oxygen Media was selected to receive the corresponding 2007 Forerunner Accolade for the Best Programmer for Women. “It is truly an honor to be recognized by WICT,” said Geraldine Laybourne, Oxygen’s chairman and CEO.
Thirty-eight cable telecommunications companies participated in the PAR Initiative this year, WICT said, vying for recognition as best programmers for women in cable and best operators for women in cable. Another three categories honor best companies for women in cable based on pay equity, advancement opportunities and resources for work/life support.
The top five companies in each of the five categories were honored yesterday in Washington, D.C., at the 23rd Annual WICT Foundation Benefit Gala. Besides the Forerunner Accolade, Cox was awarded first place among best companies for women in cable based on work/life support and second place based on advancement opportunities.
“As we mark the fifth anniversary of the WICT Foundation’s PAR Initiative, we see that the cable industry has shown tremendous progress implementing pay equity programs and leadership programs for women at all levels,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Without the resources provided by the PAR Initiative, we would not have seen these changes.
“However, we still face challenges recruiting and retaining women,” she added. “In 2003, when WICT launched the PAR Initiative, women accounted for 38.7 percent of all cable employees; in 2007, that number has dropped to 35.8 percent. By recognizing that advancing women drives bottom-line growth, we will achieve new levels of success as an industry.”
Additional information, including the 2007 PAR Executive Report, is available from the Women in Cable Telecommunications Foundation at www.wict.org.
Cox Communications Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is a broadband communications and entertainment company with more than 6 million customers nationwide including about 450,000 basic cable subscribers in New England. Additional information is available at www.cox.com.