www.spglobal.com Open in urlscan Pro
18.66.89.37  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

/en/search

<form id="search-form" action="/en/search">
  <div class="search-input-wrapper global-search"> <input type="text" name="q" placeholder=""> <span class="search-input__svg"> <svg data-gtm-action="Main Navigation" data-gtm-category="Navigation" data-gtm-label="Search" viewBox="0 0 17.5 17.5">
        <path d="M12.5,11h-0.8l-0.3-0.3c1-1.1,1.6-2.6,1.6-4.2C13,2.9,10.1,0,6.5,0S0,2.9,0,6.5S2.9,13,6.5,13c1.6,0,3.1-0.6,4.2-1.6l0.3,0.3v0.8l5,5l1.5-1.5L12.5,11z M6.5,11C4,11,2,9,2,6.5S4,2,6.5,2S11,4,11,6.5S9,11,6.5,11z"></path>
      </svg> </span> </div>
</form>

Text Content

featured Corporate
/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/the-path-to-gender-parity content
esgSubNav
S&P Global Sustainable1

 * S&P Global
 * S&P Dow Jones Indices
 * S&P Global Engineering Solutions
 * S&P Global Market Intelligence
 * S&P Global Mobility
 * S&P Global Commodity Insights
 * S&P Global Ratings
 * S&P Global Sustainable1

Close
Discover more about S&P Global's offerings
Investor Relations
 * Investor Relations Home
 * Presentations
 * Investor Fact Book
 * News Releases
 * Quarterly Earnings
 * SEC Filings & Reports
 * Executive Committee
 * Governance
 * Merger Information
 * Stock & Dividends
 * Shareholder Services
 * Contact

Support
 * Contact Us
 * Media Contacts

 * Who We Are
 * Who We Serve
 * Solutions
 * Research & Insights
 * Events
   
 * Speak to a Specialist
   


 * Speak to a Specialist
 * Who We Are
    * Speak to a Specialist
    * About
    * Purpose
    * Approach
    * People
    * History
 * Who We Serve
    * Speak to a Specialist
    * Academia
    * Commercial Banking
    * Corporations
    * Insurance
    * Investment Banking
    * Investment Management
    * Private Equity
   
   Client Case Studies
 * Solutions
    * Speak to a Specialist
    * ESG Performance
    * Net Zero
    * Energy Transition
    * Sustainable Financing Opinions
    * Positive Impact
    * TCFD Reporting
   
    * Nature Positive
    * Carbon Markets
    * Corporate Sustainability Assessment
 * Research & Insights
    * Speak to a Specialist
    * Overview
    * Blog
    * Podcasts
   
   Sustainability Quarterly
    * Climate Risk & Resilience
    * ESG Regulation & Standards
    * Social Equity
    * Sustainable Finance
    * The Path to Net Zero
 * Events
    * Speak to a Specialist
    * All Events
    * Webinar Replays


 *  * About
    * Purpose
    * Approach
    * People
    * History

 *  * Academia
    * Commercial Banking
    * Corporations
    * Insurance
    * Investment Banking
    * Investment Management
    * Private Equity
   
   Client Case Studies
 *  * ESG Performance
    * Net Zero
    * Energy Transition
    * Sustainable Financing Opinions
    * Positive Impact
    * TCFD Reporting
   
    * Nature Positive
    * Carbon Markets
    * Corporate Sustainability Assessment

 *  * Overview
    * Blog
    * Podcasts
   
   Sustainability Quarterly
    * Climate Risk & Resilience
    * ESG Regulation & Standards
    * Social Equity
    * Sustainable Finance
    * The Path to Net Zero

 *  * All Events
    * Webinar Replays




THE PATH TO GENDER PARITY




WOMEN CEOS REMAIN RARE. HOW ARE COMPANIES ADDRESSING LACK OF WOMEN IN
LEADERSHIP?


Authors: Jennifer Laidlaw, Wera Von der Osten, Erin Tully, Philipp Cyrus,
Jonathan James Santos





Published: March 8, 2023



 * 
 * * 
   * 
   * Share
   * 

Highlights

Women hold only a small fraction of total CEO roles across regions and sectors,
according to S&P Global data.

The number of women in management has ticked up only slowly since the COVID-19
pandemic, which could restrain the pool of future women CEO candidates.

S&P Global data shows that few companies offer employee support programs such as
childcare facilities or paid parental leave beyond legal minimums — factors that
could impact women’s career development.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Women’s Day on March 8 is an occasion to put a spotlight on the
role of women in the workplace, particularly at a time when companies face
growing pressure from investors and other stakeholders to increase the diversity
of their workforces, boards and management teams.

Out of more than 5,400 companies assessed in the S&P Global Corporate
Sustainability Assessment, or CSA, only 4.4% had a woman CEO, according to a new
analysis. The utilities sector has the highest percentage of women CEOs in that
universe, at 10.6%. Efforts by the sector to diversify its talent pipeline as
well as changes in utilities’ business models and technological transformations
requiring different skill sets could help explain the higher number of female
CEOs. Health care, traditionally a bastion of female employment, comes next at
7.9%, while the energy, industrials and information technology sectors have the
lowest percentage of women CEOs, all below 3%. Most other sectors hover around
4% or 5%.





In some parts of the world, policymakers have taken steps to promote gender
diversity by passing laws to increase the representation of women on corporate
boards. For example, several European countries including France, Germany, Spain
and Belgium have passed laws to elevate women to top corporate positions. The EU
recently adopted a law on gender balance on corporate boards that says at least
40% of non-executive director positions, or 33% of all director posts, must be
occupied by the “under-represented sex” by 2026.

In some instances, gender quotas have yielded positive results for corporate
board representation. For example, France passed a law in 2011 making it
compulsory for companies to fill at least 40% of corporate board seats with
women. The percentage of women on the boards of France’s biggest publicly traded
companies soared to 46% in 2021 from around 15% in the year the law was passed.
Despite these efforts, there is still a long way to go to achieve gender parity
in the corporate world, particularly when it comes to top jobs such as CEO.

 

EUROPE HAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN CEOS

Europe is the region with the highest percentage of women in CEO roles, at 7.9%,
reflecting legislative measures to ensure women’s participation in company
decision-making. European countries that are not part of the EU have also made
strides in gender balance. Norway was the first country in the world to
introduce binding gender quotas for corporate boards, while the U.K.’s voluntary
approach to gender balance has produced encouraging results.



In North America, women hold 7% of CEO roles. In Asia, just 3% of CEOs are
women, and in Latin America that figure is just 1.5%. A lack of legal frameworks
ensuring equality in Asia could help explain why the region has so few women
CEOs. In Latin America, progress on gender equality has been slow in
conservative cultures, where the argument is often made that there is a lack of
qualified female candidates and beliefs persist that women are needed at home.



 

THE PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN MANAGERS HAS BARELY RISEN SINCE COVID-19

Many conversations about women in leadership roles focus on the talent pipeline,
and how companies are developing talent earlier in careers that could eventually
lead to senior management roles and the C-suite. Viewed through that lens, the
outlook for increasing the number of women in the CEO role appears troubling.
S&P Global data shows that there has been scant improvement in recent years in
the number of women in management positions. The data shows that the percentage
of women in management ticked up to 30% in 2022 from 28% in 2019. In this
analysis, “women in management” is defined as junior, middle and senior level
management.

The number of women in management declined in the energy sector over the same
period, despite rising between 2020 and 2021. Women in management in consumer
staples and real estate fell in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic started,
but rose in 2021 and 2022. In most sectors, the number of women in management
rose slightly or remained stable between 2019 and 2022. The exception was the
health care sector, where the percentage of women in management rose to 46% from
40%, and the historically male-dominated information technology sector, where
the percentage rose to 26% from 22%.





The gender disparity is less stark for overall employment across all positions,
but also shows stalled progress in achieving gender parity. Women have made up
36% of the total workforce for the last three years. There were declines in the
percentage of women in the workforce in the energy, financials and real estate
sectors between 2019 and 2022. Most other sectors such as utilities and consumer
discretionary companies showed moderate improvements, and health care saw a rise
to 53% in 2022 from 50% in 2019.

There are also regional disparities. Latin America companies saw the share of
women in management roles edge up to 29.7% in 2022 from 28.6% in 2019.
Asia-Pacific companies saw their share of women in management rise to 25% from
23.4% during that same time period. The figure rose more significantly in North
America, Europe and Africa over this three-year period.



 

THE ONGOING IMPACT OF COVID-19

Women’s careers were generally hit harder by COVID-19, as many lost their jobs
during lockdowns or left the workforce to take over home-schooling and childcare
duties. Women represented 39% of the global workforce but accounted for 54% of
pandemic-related job losses as of May 2020, according to consultancy McKinsey.
Women were overrepresented in sectors most heavily hit by the pandemic, such as
hospitality or the food services industries, further exacerbating inequalities.

According to an S&P Global/AARP survey of nearly 1,600 people conducted in the
late summer of 2020, many parents and family caregivers in the U.S. saw their
at-home commitments grow from the beginning of the pandemic, leading to
increased stress and some feeling that they were being penalized at work for
their increasing responsibilities. With many schools and daycares closed and
with many children moving to virtual schooling, the amount of time required for
childcare duties since the pandemic began increased for 58% of parents,
according to the survey results.

In its Women, Business and the Law 2022 report, the World Bank underscores that
the pandemic heightened the importance of ensuring that childcare policies are
aligned to parents’ needs, especially those of working mothers. The report,
published annually, measures global progress toward gender equality in 190
economies. It says childcare needs to be available, affordable and good quality.

Legislation strengthening women’s rights is essential to make the world more
equal and inclusive, the report says, noting that differences between men and
women’s average lifetime earnings are estimated at $172.3 trillion — equivalent
to twice the world’s gross domestic product. On average, women have about
three-quarters of the legal rights afforded to men, according to the World Bank
study, which measured women's legal rights with regards to mobility, the
workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets and pensions.

 

THE ROLE OF SUPPORT PROGRAMS IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

The CSA collects data on the employee support programs companies offer, which
can play an essential role in keeping women in the workforce as they juggle care
responsibilities. These support programs include childcare facilities or
contributions; breast-feeding or lactation facilities or benefits; paid parental
leave in excess of legal minimums; and part-time working options. Our analysis
found that these support schemes were not widely offered across industries. Paid
family or care leave beyond parental leave — defined as additional time off to
look after a dependent family member — was especially rare.

The lack of such offerings could have knock-on effects for the talent pipeline
and employee turnover. Women who don't have the support needed to continue in
their careers while managing their family and childcare responsibilities will
have to make tough choices, and some will leave the workforce.  





On the high end of the spectrum, 24.2% of companies in the financials sector
offer childcare facilities or contributions. Women made up the majority of the
sector’s  workforce at 52% in 2022  and 5% of its CEOs are women, just slightly
higher than the average of 4.42% for all sectors.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, only 8.6% of energy companies have
childcare facilities or contributions . At 19.1% of utilities companies there
are breast-feeding or lactation facilities or benefits, but that figure is just
5.4% among industrials and real estate companies.

When it comes to paid leave, 20% of companies in the financials sector go beyond
minimum legal requirements in the paid parental leave they offer for the primary
caregiver on the arrival of a new child. That figure drops to just 16% for the
non-primary caregiver. Only 11% offer paid family leave.

Offering paternity leave could help break down gender barriers and ease the
mental load women employees often carry. Research shows that providing support
globally to families by encouraging paternity leave could also improve gender
equality in society — and thus in the workplace. A study by the German Institute
for Economic Research suggests that the introduction of policy measures such as
paternal leave can change attitudes toward traditional gender roles.

 

THE BENEFITS OF DIVERSE LEADERSHIP — AND THE LONG ROAD AHEAD

Research has also shown that a more diverse workforce can make a company more
profitable. It could also have an impact on the long-term value of a firm. A
study by S&P Global published in 2019 showed that firms with female CFOs were
more profitable and generated excess profits of $1.8 trillion. Companies with
female CEOs and CFOs produced superior stock price performance compared to the
market average, while firms with more women on their boards were more profitable
than firms with low gender diversity.

Given the low percentage of women CEOs across sectors and geographies, it will
take many years to achieve parity. According to a report by the United Nations,
the world is not on track to meet a U.N. goal of reaching gender equality by
2030. Alarmingly, it would take another 286 years to achieve gender equality
across society, the report estimated. The U.N. launched its 17 Sustainable
Development Goals, known as the SDGs, in 2015 with an aim to create a safer,
more prosperous planet by creating gender equality, eradicating poverty,
eliminating hunger, providing clean water and urgently addressing climate change
by 2030.

S&P Global data shows that only a small percentage of companies offer employee
support programs that would be particularly beneficial to working women. By
implementing strategies to increase those numbers, companies could improve the
conditions for women and thus increase their number in the workplace, creating a
talent pipeline for future senior leaders. Companies may find that putting
diversity at the forefront of their decision-making could pay off in the longer
term.


 * Our Purpose & Values
 * Press
 * Ventures
 * Contact Us
 * Office Locations

 * Careers
 * Corporate Responsibility
 * History
 * Investor Relations
 * Leadership

 * © 2023 S&P Global
 * Terms of Use
 * Cookie Notice
 * Privacy Policy
 * Do Not Sell My Personal Information
 * 中文
 * Cookie Settings

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 





YOUR COOKIE CONTROLS:

S&P Global uses cookies to improve user experience and site performance, offer
advertising tailored to your interests and enable social media sharing. Where
required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent before we place any
cookies on your device that are not strictly necessary for the functioning of
our websites. By clicking "Accept All Cookies", you agree to our use of cookies.
Learn about our cookies and how to modify your preferences in our Cookie Notice.
Visit our updated Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice, effective December 30, 2022.

Cookie Settings Accept All Cookies



PRIVACY PREFERENCE CENTER

When you visit any web site, it may store or retrieve information on your
browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you,
your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you
expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can
give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to
privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the
different category headings to find out more and change our default settings.
However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site
and the services we are able to offer.
More information
Allow All


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and
personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose
services we have added to our pages.    If you do not allow these cookies then
some or all of these services may not function properly.

Cookies Details‎

TARGETING COOKIES

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant adverts on other sites.    They do not store directly personal
information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet
device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted
advertising.

Cookies Details‎

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and
improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the
most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.    All
information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you
do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and
will not be able to monitor its performance.

Cookies Details‎

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

Always Active

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched
off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you
which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy
preferences, logging in or filling in forms.    You can set your browser to
block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then
work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Cookies Details‎
Back Button


PERFORMANCE COOKIES



Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label

 * 
   
   View Cookies
   
    * Name
      cookie name

Save Settings