2004 CWDI Report: Women Board Directors of Fortune Global 200 Companies
The 2004 CWDI Report: Women Board Directors of Fortune Global 200 Companies focuses on 200 companies ranked within the 2004 Fortune 200 listing. The study found that women held 10.4% of board seats.
KEY FINDINGS
- The majority (73.5%) of the 200 largest companies in the world, as ranked by Fortune in 2004, have at least one woman director on their board.
- Only 10.4% of all board seats in the Fortune Global 200 companies are held by women. Almost half of the companies with women directors (45.6%) have only one woman director. The glass ceiling in corporate directorships is solidly in place.
- 78 U.S. companies are in the Fortune Global 200 and all have women on their boards. On these 78 companies, 17.5% of all board directors are women, leading all the countries represented by Fortune Global 200 companies.
- Japan, the world’s second largest economy, with 27 companies in the Fortune Global 200, has only 3 women-held board seats out of 431 (0.7%).
- The Top Ten ranking of companies with the highest percentage of women board directors includes 27 companies, dominated by the United States with 20. The remaining companies are all European: three German companies, along with two British, one Norwegian and one Dutch company round out the Top Ten.
- Albertsons, a U.S. retail food and drugstore chain, ranks first globally and nationally among the Fortune Global 200 with 50% of its board seats held by women (5 out of 10).
- Statoil, a petroleum refining company based in Norway, ranks second globally with 44.4% of its board made up of women (4 out of 9).
- European companies in the Fortune Global 200 have lower percentages of women directors compared to the U.S. The United Kingdom has 12.5% of its board directors being female. Germany has 10.3%, the Netherlands has 8.6%, followed by Switzerland (7.7%), France (7.2%), and Italy (1.8%).
- The large majority of women board directors are non-executive, ‘outside’ members. This is a positive in the U.S., where independent non-executive directors are the norm. However, it is a minus in other countries where ‘inside’ directors (senior management) wield more power.
- 53 companies in the Fortune Global 200 have no women directors, and they include some of the largest companies in the world – Germany’s DaimlerChrysler, Japan’s Toyota, France’s AXA.
Sponsored By:
PILLSBURY WINTHROP LLP
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