Gender representation on corporate boards of directors

Gender representation on corporate boards of directors refers to the proportion of men and women who occupy board member positions. To measure gender diversity on corporate boards, studies often use the percentage of women holding corporate board seats and the percentage of companies with at least one woman on their board. Globally, men occupy more board seats than women. Indeed, in 2015, women held 17.9% of the board seats on Fortune 1000 companies.

The reasons behind the disproportionate gender ratio of directors is a subject of much debate. A survey of more than 4000 directors found that male directors over the age of 55 cited a lack of qualified female candidates as the main reason behind the stagnant number of female directors. In contrast, in the same study, female directors and younger male directors considered the male-dominated networking that often led to the appointment of directors to be the reason behind women's slow progress.

Given that gender diversity on boards is an issue rooted in the principle of equality of treatment, inequality in gender representation on boards can be combatted through equality of opportunity reforms or equality of outcome reforms. Governments and corporations have attempted to address the disproportionality of gender representation on corporate boards through both types of measures, including legislation mandating gender quotas (a reform based on the principle of equality of outcome) and comply and explain guidelines (a reform based on the principle of equality of opportunity).

The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation asserts that Lettie Pate Whitehead was one of the first female directors of a prominent company. She was a member of the board of the Coca-Cola Company from 1934. A survey of Fortune 250 companies in 2012, however, found the first female director of the surveyed companies to be Clara Abbott, a director of Abbott Laboratories from 1900. The survey also found that the average first year of appointing a company's first female director was 1985. In 2001, Sarah Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham, became the first woman to chair a FTSE 100 company.

Katharine Graham, previously the chairwoman of the board of The Post Co., was the first female Fortune 500 CEO in 1972. Ursula Burns, the Chairman and CEO of Xerox, was the first African American female CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

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