Explosive Growth for Women on Public Boards
WBC Women Joining Public Boards October Monthly Report, empowered by Equilar, shows a record number of women joining public boards. In October 2020, public companies appointed women to fill 125 seats, or 40.9% of seats filled—the largest number ever—including 44 women who identified as women of color. Healthcare and Tech companies led the way.
Nov 16, 2020, 09:05 ET
- 123 women were named to public boards last month, 40.9% of board seats; and two of those women joined the boards of more than one company. It is noteworthy that several high-profile women are included in the list, that they sit across industries and so WBC and Equilar can track diversity.
- In October, 44 women identified as women of color with 34 of those identifying as African American. This is a critical measure as diversity is at the forefront of business leadership and business practices in 2020. And progress is accelerating. For example, in January 2020 no women appointed to boards of public companies listed in the Russell 3000 index identified as women of color while in October that number is 30.
- Health Care and Tech Leadership: Companies named in the report represent various industries to include high-tech, biotechnology/pharmaceutical, energy and retail. 21% of women were appointed to boards of public companies in the healthcare sector and 17.6% of women appointed were appointed to board of public companies in the technology sector including African American women appointed to the Boards of Adobe and Inuit.
- The increase in the number of women appointed to boards of public companies also increases the number of seats women hold overall. According to the Women on Boards 2020 Gender Equality index women hold 22.6% of board seats of the Russell 3000 companies prior to October. Women joined the board of 23 companies in the Russell 3000 index in October and we are working to track the share of seats women hold across not only companies in the Russell 3000 index but all public companies.
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