0

Jackblog

Women's Progress Nonexistent at the Top

Women are making glacially slow progress up the corporate ladder.

New research released yesterday from Catalyst, a New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to expanding opportunities for women, mostly through research, shows that increases in top positions for women have been virtually nonexistent during the past year.

"Despite high-profile news about gender gaps, equal pay and women on boards, once again the needle barely budged for women aspiring to top business leadership in corporate America," Catalyst said in a release.

Among the findings in the two reports, "http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/2012-catalyst-census-fortune-500-women-board-directors">2012 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors" and "http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/2012-catalyst-census-fortune-500-women-executive-officers-and-top-earners">2012 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Executive Officers and Top Earners":

• Women’s share of board of 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—the metric flat-lined 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.

Only two top U.S. companies have more women in executive positions than men, http://money.cnn.com">CNN Money reported Tuesday: Ingredion, based in Westchester, Ill., and headed by CEO Ilene Gordon; and Frontier Communications, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., led by CEO Maggie Wilderotter.

Women hold 21 chief executive officer spots in Fortune 500 companies, a miserly 4.2 percent of those positions, CNN Money reported in November. The Fortune 500 is Fortune magazine's list of the 500 largest U.S. firms.

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment