2013 CWDI Report: Women Board Directors of Fortune Global 200 and Beyond

2013 CWDI Report:
Women Board Directors of Fortune Global 200 and Beyond

The 2013 CWDI Report on Women Board Directors of Fortune Global 200 and Beyond focuses on 153 companies in the Fortune 200 companies that have at least one woman board director. The study found that women held 15% of all board seats within Fortune 200 companies.

Key Findings

• For the first time, the United States lost its leading role as the country with the highest percentage of women directors in the Fortune Global 200. With a quarter of its directors now women, France tops the U.S. 25.1% to 20.9%.
• The overall percentage of women board directors in the 200 largest companies globally now stands at 15% — an increase of only 1.2% since the 2011 CWDI Report. In order for this percentage to change dramatically, the three countries with the most number of large companies in the Fortune ranking – U.S., Japan and China – must boost their appointments of women to board seats.
• Almost a quarter of these large companies — 47, or 23.5% — still have all-male Boards of Directors. The majority of these companies are based in Asia.

• European countries increased their percentage of women directors substantially since 2011. Women now occupy 17.6% of boards seats in Europe compared to 15.3% in 2011. During the same period, the percentage of women on boards in the countries in the Americas barely ticked up, from 19.3% to 19.5% over the past 18 months, while the percentage of women board directors in the Asia-Pacific region jumped from 5% to 5.9%.
• The three countries whose companies had the largest percentage increases in women directors since 2004 were France (7.2% to 25.1%), Spain (1.9% to 12.7%), and Italy (1.8% to 9.3%). All three have quotas for women directors.
• Countries with quotas for women directors continue to outperform those without these initiatives. The 34 Fortune Global 200 companies based in countries with quotas had a higher percentage of women on boards (18.9%) than the average percentage of women directors – 15% — of all companies in the Fortune listing.
• Similarly, the 54 Fortune Global 200 companies based in countries that have gender or board diversity requirements in their corporate governance codes also had a higher percentage of women directors at 19.9%.
• More Companies Continue to Reach Critical Mass of 3 or more women board directors. 67 companies now have three or more directors. Compared to 2011 when 56 companies had three or more directors
• First in CWDI’s “Top Ten” list of companies with the highest percentage of female directors is Procter and Gamble with 45.6% of its board being female (5 out of 11).   Deutsche Bank and Wellpoint place second with 40%. Third on the list are two French companies with six women board directors each on boards of 16 – BNP Paribas and Société Générale.
• A record number of companies – 26 – made it to the Top Ten listing of best performers in terms of naming women to board seats. The U.S. with 13 companies and France with 7 companies dominated this listing.

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