Why 5 Percent Remains a Glass Ceiling for Female CEOs
Katharine Graham, the first and still one of the few
Source: AP
When the late Katharine Graham became chief executive officer of the Washington Post Co. in 1972, she was the first woman to run one of the 500 largest U.S. companies by revenue. In the 46 years since, only 67 other women have had that distinction. Almost every large U.S. company has publicly stated its commitment to gender diversity, and women make up nearly half the U.S. workforce. But women struggle to retain even 5 percent of the CEO jobs at the biggest companies.
Among Fortune 500 companies, the number of female CEOs peaked at 31 as of June 2017 before slipping to 24 -- 4.8 percent of the total -- this May. Among members of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, an overlapping list that includes only public companies, 5 percent had women as CEOs at the start of this year, according to Catalyst Inc.