The number of women in executive positions in corporate America is moving at a “glacial” pace, according to a report on the Fortune 500 released today.
The annual gender report from the New York-based Catalyst, an organisation founded to expand opportunities for women in business, found that woman hold 16.6% of board positions across the Fortune 500.
For those expecting to see significant development the numbers are pretty disheartening, given it’s an increase of just half a point from last year’s results.
Other tiny improvements included a rise in female company executives from 14.1% in 2011 to 14.3% in 2012. Just 8.1% of top earners were found to be female – up from 7.5% last year – while 51 companies had all male-directors and women of colour held just 3.3% of board positions – the same as the previous year.
In line with the report, Catalyst also announced its first corporate board resource – a directory of women nominated as qualified board members and CEOs at member companies, and gives member CEOs the opportunity to sponsor women for corporate director positions.
Click here to see the report from Catalyst.