Study: Women CEOs Are Equally, If Not More, Qualified For The Role
Women are continuing to break barriers in the corporate world. A recent study found that women holding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) positions in S&P 500 companies has increased by 10% since 2000. These public companies listed in the stock exchange are seeing substantial growth in women leaders. This is a statistic that will serve as inspiration for future women CEOs around the nation.
The findings have been comprised by Women’s Power Gap, an initiative started in 2018 created to provide research around the gender gap and power.
They comprised public information such as Linkedin profiles, press releases, and company biographies in order to conclude these results.
The Number Of Women CEOs Is Growing
In 2000, there were only nine women serving as CEO in S&P 500 companies, according to the report. Now, there are 48.
The increase over the last 25 is significant – beginning at 2% and now roughly being 10%. Today, 11 out of 64 new hires for S&P 500 CEOs are women. This was about 17% in 2024.
Women CEOs Are Equally (If Not More) Qualified For The Role
Many women have had more experience before their CEO role, according to the study. Many serve as president before receiving the CEO position. In fact, they’re 32% more likely to. Most men skip this step. 29% of male CEOs got the role directly after their time in a business unit.
Women Are Overrepresented In Non-Profit And Loss Roles
P&L roles are profit and loss roles which are essentially managing finances. Ten percent of woman CEOs served as Chief Financial Officers (CFO) directly prior to taking on the role of CEO. This is in comparison to only 6% of male CEOs.
For the S&P 100, a deeper look revealed that in the one hundred largest public companies, women hold 24% of “launch positions,” according to the report. These are positions such as President or Chief Operating Officer (COO), or head of divisions and regional markets. The positions usually serve as a stepping stone before reaching a CEO role.
Although there has been progress, there is still a long way to go. Today, 0% of the CEOs are Hispanic or Black women. Additionally, there are only six Asian women. Asian, Black, and Hispanic men comprised 7.4%, 1.6%, and 3.4% of the CEOs, respectively. And, generally, women still remain underrepresented.
