What you probably already know: Women account for very few chief executive officers in companies around the globe. Organizations that do have female leaders, however, tend to be much more supportive of women. A new report from Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) called, “Women CEOs — Opening Doors to Boards and C-Suites,” examined more than 3,200 major companies worldwide and found that only 215 in the study — a paltry 6.7% — had a woman serving as chief executive. Yet those companies showed significantly higher levels of female representation in both senior management and board posts regardless of region, country or company size.
Why it matters: “The data is clear: Women CEOs aren’t just symbolic figures; they are engines of structural change,” CWDI Chair Irene Nativida says. “They create a pipeline of talent that is often overlooked. Beyond equity, this leadership style is also linked to higher returns and better risk management based on numerous studies globally.” Notably, nearly a quarter of women-led companies across the globe have reached gender-equal or female-majority boards, while almost one in four have senior management teams where women occupy more than 50% of positions. The new study marks measurable progress over a similar undertaking the organization published five years ago, though the 2021 analysis reached similar conclusions.
What it means: The findings point to what researchers call the “Women CEO Effect,” or the idea that a woman in the top job can influence leadership roles throughout an organization. Companies led by women CEOs reported corporate boards consisting of 38.3% women, significantly higher than the global average of 28.9%. Women also accounted for almost 37% of executive leadership positions at those companies, compared with about 21% globally. The report also notes that, when a woman succeeds a man as CEO, board diversity tends to skyrocket, moving from an average of 34.5% women to 56.1%.
What happens next: While encouraging, women remain underrepresented in the highest-paying and most influential executive roles, and many face early-career barriers due to unequal access, bias in promotions, gender-pay discrepancies, caregiving responsibilities and workplace structures. But, as the report notes, the importance of female CEOs may lie less in the barriers they break and more in the pathways they help build for those coming behind them. “The report’s finding is unambiguous,” a press release notes. “When a woman takes the helm, there is a ‘multiplier effect’ — a staggering shift in diversity metrics in companies led by women.”
