Women Make Gains in C-Suite Positions

Women Make Gains in C-Suite Positions

“Corner offices are looking a bit less like exclusive boys’ clubs lately.” That’s the conclusion of the Wall Street Journal in an analysis of women in the workplace. A report by research firm Equilar found that at S&P companies with male executives at the top, almost 12% of the four other highest-paid officers are women, up four percentage points from 10 years ago. The data also showed that the percentage of women chief executives at S&P 500 companies has doubled since 2006, to five percent. Overall, 19% of all c-suite executives today are women, an increase of two percent over last year.

Top examples of this shift include Adobe Systems, Best Buy, Target, Gap, and Kimberly Clark, where women occupy as many as five of eight positions on the male chief executive’s leadership team. The impact on the bottom line can be big. Companies with higher proportions of women in upper management achieve higher profits, according to a study of over 21,000 firms in 91 countries by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Profitable firms where women represent 30% of leaders saw a 15% increase in one measure of gross profit.

I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.