There are more women on US company boards than ever before but the number of female executives has fallen for the first time in decades, according to data that shows the uneven progress of efforts to diversify America’s corporate leadership.
The percentage of female board directors at Russell 3000 index companies continues to rise, to 30 per cent this year from 29.4 per cent at the end of 2023 and 28.5 per cent in 2022, according to ISS Corporate, a data provider.
However, in executive positions, women lost seats in 2023 for the first time since at least 2005, according to an S&P analysis of companies in its global total market index. In senior management roles under the executive level, the growth of women’s representation slowed in 2023 to the lowest rate in more than a decade, S&P has said.