Improving the Prospects for Women : Bias: Top-flight members of International Women’s Forum plan in L.A. how to ‘Make a Difference in the Years Ahead.’

“Can you name one female chief executive officer of a major Los Angeles corporation? You can’t, because to my knowledge there isn’t one--unless she happens to own the firm,” says Adrienne Hall, vice chairman of Eisaman, Johns & Laws advertising and a founder of the International Women’s Forum, which held its sixth annual conference at the Beverly Hilton over the weekend.

But “the pipeline is full of accomplished women” ready to share with men the burdens of running the planet, Hall says. And the women’s forum event was packed with such super-achievers, who already shoulder responsibilities that most of the world’s population--men or women--never could even attempt.

They came from four continents, from most states, from the public and private sectors, from an extraordinary array of professions in which they have already reached top levels--as CEOs, lawyers, architects, money managers, university heads, medical researchers, computer experts, city commissioners, builders of airports and subways.

They had in common only their gender, their high achievements--and the desire to share their knowledge and to network with other equally successful women.

When the first female President of the United States--or the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation--is elected, she will probably be a member of this little-publicized and relatively low-key group, which has 2,000 members worldwide and exists only to better the world’s prospects by bettering prospects for women.

If you’re thinking of joining, forget it; membership in the Los Angeles branch (the Trusteeship for the Betterment of Women) is by invitation only. The criteria, says the group’s Judy Miller, is that “you must be pre-eminent in your field and you must exert influence beyond your own sphere of endeavor.”

Some participants are “household names” who need no identification: Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, Coretta Scott King, Judith Krantz, Sandra Day O’Connor, Jane Pauley.

The majority are not. President Cynthia Maduro Ryan, for example, is an international partner at the world’s largest law firm, Baker & McKenzie.

Engineer Patricia Nettleship heads the Nettleship Group in Los Angeles, which builds subways, airports and harbors. Florence Schornstein is commissioner of parks in New Orleans. Kathryn Braun is senior vice president of Western Digital Corp. in Irvine. Debi Coleman is vice president of Apple Computers in Cupertino, Calif. Judy Miller is vice president of Warnaco Inc., New York.

And the list of goes on--so diverse and impressive that it seems ridiculous, as founder Hall points out, that most major institutions are still male-dominated, that women still lack access to the basic economic and political structure, and that “of the 100 top companies in Los Angeles, about two-thirds still do not have a woman on their board of directors. This is very significant.”

Even more significant is the fact that neither Hall nor the women’s forum takes a combative attitude toward changing this.

Members seem as if they’re too smart, too productive and too happy to waste energy on a negative approach. The title of the conference, “Make a Difference in the Years Ahead,” was indicative of its positive, almost loving embrace of opportunities as well as problems looming in the ‘90s.

“We want to be equal among our peers, both male and female; this organization does not want only to interact with women,” Hall advised.

Indeed, the Friday morning discussion panel included two men and two women: Dr. John Slaughter, president of Occidental College; Roger Johnson, CEO of Western Digital; Eve Rich, chairman and CEO of Contempo Casuals; and Bonnie Guiton, president and CEO of Earth Conservation Corps.

Audrey Hepburn, UNICEF ambassador and women’s forum Hall of Fame awardee, addressed the group at a lunch on “Making a Difference for Our Children.” Trusteeship member Maureen Reagan presented awards to 20 “Women and Corporations That Have Made a Difference” on Saturday. Joan Rivers entertained at the Saturday night gala where Hall Of Fame awards were presented to Maya Ying Lin, the Vietnam War Memorial architect; singer Ella Fitzgerald; and Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica.

At Sunday’s meeting, Trusteeship members Sister Magdalen Coughlin, chancellor of Mount St. Mary’s College, and Rabbi Laura Geller presided at a session on “Making a Difference Within Ourselves.” Helen Reddy sang the conference to a close with “I Am Woman.”