Women comprise a majority of the U.S. population and nearly half of the U.S. workforce. Yet women are in top corporate leadership roles, including on boards of directors, far less than their overall representation in society. However, there have been meaningful signs of progress in the past several years, and organizations like Catalyst Women On Board™ are leading the way.
Catalyst has been around for more than 50 years. What is exciting about the progress we’ve seen in recent years in adding women to boards? What are some continued impediments to that progress?
Catalyst Women On Board: We see some bright spots, and women are making some inroads. Catalyst, as part of the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD), participated in a study conducted by Deloitte that found that Fortune 100 companies are outperforming Fortune 500 boards in terms of representation of women and minority directors—35.9% of women and minorities held Fortune 100 board seats, compared with 30.8% in the rest of the Fortune 500.
Other good news reported by Spencer Stuart’s U.S. Board Index shows 36% of newly appointed S&P 500 directors in the past year were women, the highest percentage ever tracked in this report, and just over half of incoming directors on S&P 500 boards are women and/or minorities. Furthermore, boards with zero women have been declining. Just a little over 10 years ago, 9% of S&P 500 boards had zero women directors. In 2017, it was about 1%. When you broaden the pool to include the Russell 3000, nearly 25% of companies (738) had zero women board directors in 2016, but that figure dwindled to just over 600 by the end of 2017, according to Equilar data.
While there have been some gains, they have been modest and certainly not representative of the broad demographic changes we have seen in the United States in the same period of time. For example, women of color are vastly underrepresented on S&P 500 and Fortune 500 boards. The ABD/Deloitte report found that women of color held only 3.8% of Fortune 500 board seats.
While every individual’s journey will be different, what advice do you have for women in terms of building their networks, especially if they are early- or mid-career and just starting to think about board service?
Catalyst Women On Board: For early- to mid-career women considering board service in their future, building their networks by seeking out sponsors is of key importance. For women of color in particular, mentorship and sponsorship is essential to advancement and building board readiness skills. Catalyst research demonstrates there are two key strategies that exist for women to advance their careers: making accomplishments known and gaining access to powerful others (sponsors). Clearly communicating achievements and aspirations to a manager is critical and may also help cultivate sponsorship from senior leaders with significant organizational influence. Having someone in your network to advocate on your behalf behind closed doors and identify you for “hot jobs” or high-visibility, mission-critical roles with P&L responsibility and international exposure is paramount for building the skills and experience needed for serving on boards.
Why is sponsorship a critical tenet of the Catalyst Women On Board initiative? What are the qualifications and responsibilities of an ideal sponsor?
Catalyst Women On Board: Catalyst research and programs demonstrate that sponsorship works. Sponsorship is the active support by someone appropriately placed in an organization who has significant influence on decision-making processes and advocates for, protects and fights for the career advancement of an individual.
The Catalyst Women On Board initiative demonstrates the impact of sponsorship by pairing a CEO, board chair or experienced corporate director with a senior executive woman who aspires to board service for a two-year partnership. The mentors/sponsors provide valuable advice and counsel and, critically, introduce the women candidates to their network of sitting directors and board search professionals. An ideal sponsor acts as a differentiator and advocate for board diversity by sharing their personal knowledge and experience, as well as tapping into their personal network of influencers/leaders to advocate for their mentee’s candidacy for boards. Catalyst Women On Board makes sponsorship a reality. And sponsorship is a deliberate way to make change happen in the boardroom.