The Status of Women at the Top (of Fortune 500 Companies)
Despite high-profile news about pay parity, education for women and an increasingly higher profile for some female executives, for the vast majority of women aspiring to top leadership positions in corporate America the outlook is less rosy according to the 2012 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors and 2012 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Executive Officers and Top Earners.
Among the findings:
- Women’s share of Board Director and Executive Officer positions increased by only half a percentage point or less during the past year.
- Women held only 16.6 percent of board seats in 2012—the seventh consecutive year of no growth.
- Women held 14.3 percent of Executive Officer positions—no growth for the third straight year.
- Women of color held only 3.3 percent of board seats, indicating no growth.
- More than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies had no women of color board directors for the fifth consecutive year.
- Women held only 8.1 percent of top earner slots.
While Catalyst persists in developing resources for executive women, many companies still lag in grooming and promoting women to senior levels of responsibility. Said Ilene H. Lang, President & CEO, Catalyst, “Our member company CEOs can directly impact and increase gender diversity in their own boardrooms and at others where they have influence, providing extraordinary leadership opportunities for top women executives.”
Tags: female executives, leadership
