Report: Women gained fewer US company board seats in 2022
A new report finds that U.S. companies added women to their boards of director at a slower pace this year compared with last year as the COVID-19 pandemic and a difficult economy shifts priorities
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. companies have added women to their boards of director at a slower pace this year compared with last year as the pandemic and a difficult economy shift priorities, according to a new report released Thursday.
Women have continued to make gains, now holding a record 28% of board seats on the Russell 3000 index of publicly traded companies, according to an annual report by the advocacy organization 50/50 Women on Boards, which used data from executive data firm Equilar.
That's a 2.4% jump from the 25.6% of seats held by women in 2021, but the pace was slower than the 3% rise seen the previous year. And during the first half of 2022, the share of new seats going to women declined by 8 percentage points compared to the preceding six months.
Companies have responded in recent years to pressure from politicians and investors to appoint more women and minorities to their boards, which continue to be overwhelmingly male and white.
