2021 CWDI Report:
Women CEOs – Opening Doors to Boards and C-Suites
KEY FINDINGS
WOMEN CEOs MAKE A DIFFERENCE
CWDI’s survey of 143 companies with a woman CEO in 55 countries showed that women-led companies on average have more women on their Boards of Directors and in Executive Officer positions than 2,837 companies led by men in the study.
Women Board Directors
- Companies with a woman CEO tend to have more women board directors —
1% women-held board seats compared to 23.3% for companies with a male CEO. - 46% (66) of the 143 companies with a woman CEO have 40% or more women directors, exceeding the 23.3% average women’s board representation globally.
- Since CWDI’s 2011 report on companies with women CEOs, there has been a slight decrease in the gap between women’s board representation in women-led companies vs. companies with male CEOs — 12.4% in 2011 compared to10.8% in 2021.
- The percentage of women board directors increased following the appointment of a woman CEO — The average percentage of women’s board representation prior to a woman being named CEO was 21.9% compared to the current percentage of 34.1%.
- The regions where the appointment of a woman CEO had the largest increases of women board directors upon the appointment of a woman CEO are North America (+17.1), Europe (+14.5), and the UK (+10.4). These are the areas where there have been public/private sector initiatives to increase women’s access to board seats.
Women Executive Officers
- In addition to having more women board directors, companies with a woman CEO tend to have more women executive officers on average at 4% women in their senior management team compared to 23.8% in companies with a male CEO.
– Again, this 36.4% of women in senior roles in women-led companies surpasses the global average of 23.8% women in senior management.
- Similar to the impact of a women CEO on board composition, the percentage of women executive officers also rose following the appointment of a woman CEO from 24% representation in a prior administration to the current 36.4%, an increase of 12.4%.
- The regions posting the largest increases in women holding senior executive roles upon the appointment of a woman CEO are in Europe (+11.1), North America (+10.9), and Africa (+10.6).
- This 12.4 % difference in women in senior management before and after a woman CEO being named in 2021 is significantly higher than the increase found in CWDI’s 2011 Report which saw only a 3.6% difference after the appointment of a woman CEO.
STATUS OF WOMEN CEOs GLOBALLY
- Only 4.8% of the largest listed companies in 55 countries have a woman CEO – 143 out of 2,994 companies included in this study — an increase of only 1% since 2011 from 3.8% to 4.8%, underscoring women’s continuing challenge to secure the CEO position in the world’s top companies.
- Countries with the highest percentage of women CEOs are the U.S., Singapore, Australia, and Thailand.
In the U.S., 41 (8.1%) companies in the Fortune 500 listing have a woman CEO, 8 companies among Singapore’s 100 largest companies (8%), and 7 among the 100 largest in both Australia and Thailand (7%).
- Regionally, North America has the highest percentage of women CEOs with 7.5%, followed by Africa with 5.7% and Europe with 5.4%. The lowest percentage of women-led companies is found in Asia (3.1%) and Latin America (4%). Compared to 2011, the percentage of women CEOs increased in all regions, with the exception of Asia, which saw a drop from 4.1% to 3.1%.
- Major economies in all regions still have no women CEOs of blue-chip companies. Japan, the third largest in the world, and Germany, the largest in Europe — are among major economies with no women CEOs in their blue-chip index. China, the second largest, only has one listed company out of the top 100 with a woman at the helm.
- The paltry numbers of women CEOs are robbing companies of exponential growth given the massive evidence — over 92 research studies to date conducted throughout all continents — showing that more women in corporate leadership improve a company’s profitability.