The leading non-profit driving gender balance and diversity on corporate boards, 50/50 Women on Boards (50/50WOB) has revealed that the number of women joining boards in the US has slowed, and slipped below 2019 figures.
2023 Q1 figures show that women hold only 28.4% of the Russell 3000 company board seats. This represents a 0.2% increase from the previous quarter, and a 1.7 percentage increase year-over-year. More disconcerting is the percentage of women joining boards continued to slip in Q4 2022 to 36% and worse, the percentage of women joining boards in 2022 was 39%, significantly lower than 2019 and 2021, which were over 40%.
WOMEN ON BOARD: KEY STATISTICS
To reach gender parity by 2030, the percentage of women joining boards on an annual basis needs to surpass 50%. Using the data provided by Equilar, other significant Q4 2022 findings include:
- 36% of the 414 directors who joined boards were female, the lowest percentage of women joining boards since the first six months of 2020.
- 82% of the seats gained by women were seats added to the board not replacing a man.
- The number of gender-balanced companies decreased by 2 from the previous quarter; however, companies with 3+ women on boards increased by 18, while the number of companies with 2, 1 and 0 women decreased by 50 combined.
- 28.4% of directors reported their race ethnicity, a 0.9 percentage point increase from Q3 2022.
- Based on those who self-identify, the percentage of people of colour on boards is 16.9%, a 0.6% increase from the previous quarter, with 6.8% women of colour and 10.1% men of colour holding board seats.
- Further, Asian/Pacific Islander’s make up 5.6% of board directors, Black/African Americans 7.2%, Hispanic/Latinos 3%, and Indigenous People, Middle Eastern / North African, Multi-Racial & Other 1.1% of all board directors.
MAKE THE PLEDGE
“Since 2010, we have been educating corporations on the business imperative of diverse boards by offering leadership development and board readiness training through our workshops and events; however, it’s not enough. This past year the pace slowed, which invertedly continues to impact the pipeline of women in leadership,” said Betsy Berkhemer-Credaire, Chief Executive Officer of 50/50WOB. “Corporations must continue to advance women in the workplace and male leaders need to act by adding women and women of colour to corporate board positions – our organisation is committed to helping them get there.”
Given the slow progression, 50/50WOB has established the #MakeThePledge campaign to encourage the 57 companies with no women and the 406 companies with one woman on their board to commit to appointing at least one more female board director by the end of 2023. To ensure companies with zero or one woman act on their commitment, 50/50WOB will launch a series of resources that include:
- An outline of the steps necessary to build an inclusive and diverse board.
- Offer board-readiness leadership training for corporate groups.
- Share a curated list of qualified board-ready women for businesses to reference.
- Launch a “How They Did It” series in the 50/50WOB Networking Hub, showcasing how directors landed their first board seat and enabling up-and-coming female board members to network with these directors.
To read the full report, click here.
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