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NEW YORK, NY, USA, 1 February 2022– Deloitte Global in collaboration with The 30% Club today released the seventh edition of Women in the boardroom: A global perspective. The latest edition of the report finds that women hold just 19.7% of board seats globally, a 2.8% increase from the report’s last edition, published in 2019. At this pace, the world could expect to reach near-parity in 2045, over twenty years from now.
The latest edition reveals that in all eight major regions (North America, Latin and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, and Australasia), at least 10% of board seats are occupied by women. With notable exceptions, progress has been slow, however this slight acceleration provides some reason for optimism given the 2019 report showed the world would not reach parity until 2052. Austria, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States saw the most notable increases.
This year, Deloitte Global collaborated with The 30% Club, whose mission is to achieve at least 30% representation of women in board seats and executive leadership among all listed companies. The report provides a short summary of the “story on the ground" for each country where the 30% Club maintains a chapter, portraying a world of uneven progress.
The latest edition of the report includes updates from 72 countries on representation of women in the boardroom, exploring insights on the political, social, and legislative trends behind these numbers.
It found that nearly all countries have local organisations or governments committed to increasing the number of women serving on company boards. While these private and public sector efforts demonstrate steps toward achieving parity, the pace of collective progress needs to pick up.
“While it’s heartening to see that the world continues to make progress towards achieving gender parity, with the exception of a few countries, overall progress remains slow and uneven,” says Sharon Thorne, Deloitte Global Board Chair. “The pandemic has further challenged progress in achieving equality, making it even more important to move past discussion and take concrete actions to ensure inclusion within and beyond the boardroom including gender, ethnic and racial diversity among other characteristics. Increasing the number of women on boards is only the first step on a larger journey.”
While global female board representation increased slightly in 2021, progress at the chair and CEO levels is less apparent, underscoring the notion that placing more women on corporate boards does not necessarily equate to progress across leadership positions.
The latest research found that only 6.7% of board chairs are women, representing just a 1.4% increase from 2018. Even fewer women – 5%– hold the CEO role, representing only a 0.6% increase from 2018.
However, Deloitte Global’s research revealed a positive correlation between female CEO leadership and board diversity. Companies with women CEOs have significantly more women on their boards than those run by men—33.5% vs. 19.4%, respectively. The statistics are similar for companies with female chairs (30.8% women on boards vs. 19.4%, respectively). The inverse is true as well, with gender-diverse boards more likely to appoint a female CEO and board chair.
Top five countries |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Percentage of board seats held by women |
Percentage of CEO roles held by women |
||||
Country |
Percentage |
% change |
Country |
Percentage |
% change |
France |
43.2 |
5.9 |
Singapore |
13.1 |
3.2 |
Norway |
42.4 |
1.4 |
Sweden |
12.4 |
2.1 |
Italy |
36.6 |
7.3 |
Thailand |
11.6 |
1.9 |
Belgium |
34.9 |
4.3 |
Ireland |
11.5 |
3.7 |
Sweden |
34.7 |
1.4 |
France |
9.7 |
3.5 |
Source: Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective, 7th edition (2022)
“Consistent dedication and commitment are required to overcome the persistent barriers to improving gender diversity within the boardroom,” says Dan Konigsburg, Managing Director of the Deloitte Global Boardroom Programme. “Leaders must recognise, advocate, and actively advance gender parity in the boardroom even as progress remains slow. Whether by addressing bias, implementing programmes designed to help women prepare for board service or supporting legislation, we all have a part to play in advocating for a more diverse and equitable future.”
Fewer women are serving on more boards. Deloitte Global’s Stretch Factor metric examines how many board seats an individual holds in a particular market. The higher the stretch factor, the greater the number of board seats the same director occupies in a given market.
To read the full report, please visit: www.deloitte.com/WOB7
The global, regional, and country analyses are based on a dataset covering 10,493 companies in 51 countries— more than 176,340 directorships—spanning Asia Pacific, the Americas, and EMEA. Only active directorships and committee memberships were considered in the analysis. To supplement this data, Deloitte Global compiled information on diversity quotas and other diversity initiatives. In total, the publication explores the efforts in 72 countries to promote boardroom gender diversity. Percentage change noted throughout the report is in comparison to Deloitte Global’s analysis conducted in previous editions of this report, published in 2015, 2017 and 2019, unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited or the Deloitte member firms. We make no representation or warranty about the accuracy of the information.
About the Deloitte Global Boardroom Programme
The Deloitte Global Boardroom Programme brings together the knowledge and experience of Deloitte member firms around the world to address critical topics of universal interest to company boards and management. Supplementing country programs, its mission is to promote dialogue between corporations and their boards and management, investors, the accounting profession, academia, and government. In addition to the publication of thought-pieces on critical topics, the Deloitte Global Boardroom Programme hosts a series of must-see webinar discussions with eminent panelists to enable boards and management of global companies to challenge perceived wisdom. For more information about the programme contact globalboardroomprogram@deloitte.com. Find us online
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