Advancing Women Leaders: The Connection Between Women Board Directors and Women Corporate Officers (Spanish Version)
This research shows that the number of women on a company’s board of directors impacts the future of women in its senior leadership. This is significant because earlier Catalyst findings show that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women board directors and women corporate officers, on average, achieve higher financial performance than those with the lowest. The numbers tell the story—a gender-diverse board promotes continued success for women and for business.
Impetus: Over the past several decades, businesses have become more inclusive of women, dismantling many of the traditional barriers to women’s advancement. Although progress has been significant and is reflected in the number of women managers at the world’s largest companies and professional firms, it has been slow at the very top.
Methodology: Catalyst analyzed the relationship between the percentage of women board directors that a Fortune 500 company had in 2001 and the percentage of women corporate officers the same company had in 2006. The analysis controlled for the effects of industry, revenue, and the percentage of corporate officer positions held by women in 2000. These controls allowed for a more precise depiction of the effect women board directors have on women corporate officers.
Findings: Our results showed that there is a clear and positive correlation between the percentage of women board directors in the past and the percentage of women corporate officers in the future. This finding holds for three different measures:
- The percentage of women on a company’s board.
- Company quartile when ranked by percentage of women board directors.
- The number of women on a company’s board.
In addition, women board directors appear to have a greater effect on increasing the percentage of line positions held by women than they do on staff positions held by women. Put simply, women board directors are a predictors of women corporate officers.
Partnering Sponsors: The Chubb Corporation
Contributing Sponsors: Citizens Communications, IBM Corporation
