Investing

Number of New Women CEOs Near Zero

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: April 21, 2016 6:40 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 10:31 am

Huge consulting firm PwC did a comprehensive study titled “2015-CEO Success.” One the most notable conclusions was that the number of new chief executive officers at large companies that were women was nearly zero.

The research authors considered data from the world’s 2,500 largest public companies.

The study’s authors wrote:

Women CEOs take a step back. The share of incoming women CEOs fell to 2.8%, the lowest percentage since 2011.  Just 10 of 359 incoming CEOs (permanent and interim) in the class of 2015 were women.

Women CEOs in the U.S./Canada slide to the bottom. The share of incoming women CEOs in the U.S./Canada fell for the third year to the lowest in the study’s history.  There was just 1 woman of the total 87 (1.1%) incoming CEOs in the U.S./Canada.

Women CEOs are more often hired from outside the company than men CEOs are.  32% of incoming and outgoing women CEOs were outsiders compared to just 23% of men.

There is improvement. As of 2015, it is no longer statistically significant that women CEOs are more often forced out of office than men.  Over the last 12 years, 32% of women CEOs have been forced out of office compared to 25% of men.

One in 87.

The data support the notion that women have trouble breaking the glass ceiling. The PwC study supports data from Catalyst, although the sources are very much different. According to Catalyst, only 4% of the CEOs in the S&P 500 are women.

The evidence indicates the pattern discussed by PwC has not changed much in the past several years. While women make up about half the workforce in huge companies, if they want the top management job at their companies, or others, they are out of luck, apparently even if they have the skills to make it otherwise.