New York
CNN
—
For the primary time in almost 20 years, the share of ladies within the C-suite at publicly traded US firms has dropped.
And progress within the proportion of ladies in senior company management roles general barely budged from 2022 to 2023.
That’s in accordance with a new report from S&P Global Market Intelligence, which studied gender parity information in regulatory paperwork and press releases for firms on the S&P International Complete Market Index.
“The expansion in girls’s illustration amongst senior company positions, as soon as a vibrant spot for gender parity, doubtlessly faces an alarming turning level. Exponential progress over a decade is displaying indicators of shedding momentum,” the S&P researchers wrote.
In 2023, girls held simply 11.8% of the roughly 15,000 C-suite roles assessed, down from 12.2% the yr earlier than, the examine discovered. That’s the primary time girls have misplaced seats since 2005, the yr S&P began measuring the info.
In the meantime, the year-over-year progress charge in girls’s illustration in senior company roles general was simply 0.5%, the bottom charge recorded in additional than a decade and nicely under the 1.2% common.
One potential contributing issue, the examine suggests, is a waning concentrate on variety and fairness efforts. In analyzing what was mentioned on earnings calls, researchers discovered “publicly traded corporations are spending much less time on variety and inclusion.”
The height of DEI mentions got here in 2020 throughout the Covid pandemic. However the mentions of “variety” and “inclusion” in 2023 fell to the bottom ranges since 2012.
None of that is to say that there hasn’t been actual progress in narrowing the gender hole since 2005.
“Throughout all [senior] roles, girls held lower than 8% of seats as not too long ago as 2005; versus 22.3% in 2023. Illustration among the many extremely coveted C-suite positions has been more durable to realize, leaping solely from 6.5% to 11.8% over the identical interval,” S&P’s examine famous.
However given that girls have been becoming a member of the workforce in droves for a minimum of half a century, their share of prime roles remains to be low.
If the expansion charge stays under common going ahead, the purpose of reaching gender parity will likely be a lot farther out of attain. S&P estimates that forecasts for parity in senior roles could possibly be pushed again by as much as seven years to as late as 2042 relative to estimates from final yr.
Ensuring parity is reached sooner relatively than later would require a concerted effort, the researchers recommend. “The 2023 figures present a decline within the progress charge of ladies’s illustration throughout all senior roles and an unprecedented (over the examine interval) lack of seats within the extremely coveted C-Suite. Such metrics needs to be monitored and regarded, to make sure progress towards established objectives.”