Women Still Struggle To Obtain Senior Level Roles In Corporate America
Although we want to believe there has been some progress with diversity in the workforce, it is obvious more work still needs to get done.
With March being National Women's History month, SGA Talent, decided to launch a study to understand where women sit in the executive ranks of some of the biggest and best companies. Our goal was to gain an understanding of what is really going on with women in the workforce.
So for starters, SGA Talent decided to map out and take a deep dive into the 100 Best Companies To Work For and then compare the numbers to The Fortune 1000 specifically. This study focused solely on 9 key functional areas within each company, whereby identifying the leaders, teams and comparing the results to the companies researched.
This study, based upon our research efforts discovered the following; (a) women leaders tend to have more of a diverse team compared to their male counterparts (b) it became very clear the specific industries and functional areas that are currently well represented by women (c) women are underrepresented at the senior level and executive ranks of corporations and (d) these companies do have a qualified talent pool of women internally. Along with many data points, facts and figures, this report also includes the names of notable women leaders at the companies researched along with biographies.
So Where Or Where Not Are All The Women Executives?
Below are the number of women holding leadership roles at the 100 Best Companies To Work For. With 860 Executive Level Professionals Identified only 249 were women or 29%.
Chief Executive Officer (9) or 1%
Chief Operations Officer (3) or > 1%
Chief Information Officer/Senior Vice President (16) or 2%
Chief Financial Officer (18) or 2%
Human Resources (59) or 7%
General Counsel Vice President Legal (25) or 3%
Business Development (5) or 1%
Marketing (42) or 5%
Communications (45) or 5.2%
Foundations (27) or 3%
Below are the number of women holding leadership roles at the Fortune 1000
Chief Executive Officer 7% vs 4% within The Fortune 500 vs 6% at the Fortune 100
Chief Operations Officer 7%
Chief Information Officer 13%
Chief Financial Officer 10%
Human Resources 62% leaders with over 74% women sitting in management roles overall
General Counsel 31% vs 25% (Fortune 500)
Business Development/Sales 4%
Marketing 48%
Communications 51%
Foundations n/a
As discovered in our report, there are many opportunities available to qualified women at some of the biggest and best corporations in America. Our research uncovered the fact that there is a large group of women employees at the lower levels of these corporations who present a very valuable talent pool of qualified professionals. Therefore with a little more effort and focus to close the gender diversity gap, corporate america can make this happen by making. it a habit to We look forward to discussing our study and our efforts with you.
Reports worth reviewing:
Equal Pay Is Women's Top Workplace Issue
McKinsey Report - Women In The Workplace
SGA Talent welcomes you to read our full report, just download your copy here.
Women are clearly a big part of today's workforce and ready to climb the corporate ranks. If a conscious effort to recruit and promote qualified women into roles which are currently male dominated, closing the gender gap can be accomplished.