Women in the boardroom

This eighth edition of Women in the boardroom: A global perspective analysed more than 18,000 companies in 50 countries and geographies, exploring representation of women in the boardroom, as well as insights on the political, social, and legislative trends behind these numbers. The analysis reveals that despite initiatives around the world to increase the number of women serving on boards, gender parity is unlikely to be achieved before 2038. And, there is no clear path to gender parity in the board chair or CEO role.

For parity to become a reality, a wide range of stakeholders should devote greater focus and action to help corporate boards more accurately reflect the societies in which they operate. And boards themselves would need to continue to take action and ask the right questions.

Highlights include

• Women hold less than one-quarter (23.3%) of the world’s board seats.
• Since 2022, the number of women on boards has risen 3.6 percentage points and the anticipated timeline for achieving parity has dropped by seven years, but without increased momentum, gender parity in the boardroom will not be reached before 2038.
• Just 8.4% of the world’s boards are chaired by women and 6% of CEOs are women.
• At the current pace, reaching global gender parity for Chairs and CEOs will not be reached before 2073 and 2111, almost 50 and 90 years from now, respectively.