The number of women sitting on the boards of Fortune 500 companies is increasing. But according to a new report, at the current pace, top corporate boards in the U.S. might not represent the nation’s population until the year 2060.
Deloitte and the Alliance for Board Diversity recently released the seventh edition of its “Missing Pieces” report, which examines progress of gender, racial and ethnic representation across Fortune 500 boards.
The report showed that while more than half of Fortune 500 board seats are still held by white men (55.3 percent), women of all races and ethnicities held 30 percent of seats, up from 26.5 percent in 2020.
ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath noted on Monday’s “Morning Joe,” however, that “When you look at women of color, that’s where you see progress stall…It’s changing, but it’s not changing fast enough.”
The report showed that underrepresented racial and ethnic women hold just 7.8 percent of Fortune 500 board seats, up about two percentage points from 2020. Progress has slowed for Latinos specifically.
Huma Abedin, vice-chair of Forbes and Know Your Value’s 30/50 summit, noted women of color have had 127 board seats combined compared to 95 board seats that went to white women in the last two years.
“But even then, the progress has been uneven,” said Abedin. According to the report, women saw a 47 percent increase, gaining 86 board seats since 2020, while Asian/Pacific Islander women gained 24 seats and Latinas gained 14 seats.
Abedin noted the “Missing Pieces” report attributed the recent gains for women and minorities to a couple of factors. Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, many companies made moves to make their workplaces more inclusive and diverse. Researchers also said increased social activism and the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in companies deciding to “reassess their standard operating procedures, making strides toward greater accountability and transparency.
So what can companies do to diversify their boards to make inclusion an expectation and not just a nice-to-have?
McGrath said she recently spoke to Heidi Roizen, a veteran board director and venture capitalist who was on Forbes And Know Your Value’s “50 over 50” list in 2021.
“Her phone rings a lot with people inviting her to serve on boards,” said McGrath. “And because she’s busy, she advises or recommends that these companies go to other women, perhaps younger women who don’t have board experience but who have experience as CEOs, CFOs, COOs, operational experience that would make them terrific additions to any board. However, companies will tell her, ‘Oh, we’re they are looking for someone who already has board experience.’ So her message [is]…we really have to appreciate the experience women bring as founders, executives and operators, even if they don’t have prior board experience.”