Women's Power Gap

06/11/2025

Thank you to Fortune's Emma Hinchliffe and Nina Ajemian for highlighting our report in the MPW Daily Newsletter!


Read Emma and Nina's piece here: https://fortune.com/2025/06/09/women-more-likely-president-before-ceo/

"Women are 32% more likely to serve as company president before becoming CEO, according to a new report. ... The extra step women are taking on the way to CEO 'suggests that they often need to go further to prove they’re ready for the top job' says Eos Foundation president Andrea Silbert. 'One possibility is that some corporate boards or CEO hiring committees perceive women as carrying additional risk and therefore want to see them serve as presidents before considering them for the CEO role,' she adds.

This analysis of the pathways women take to CEO also sheds some light on why women are less likely to put themselves forward for jobs without feeling fully qualified. 'Women may actually be acting rationally,' Silbert says, 'because in practice, they do need to be more qualified to advance."

Read our report with the link in the comments.

They're 32% more likely than men to serve as company presidents before being named CEOs.

06/11/2025

A recent Fortune article by Lily Mae Lazarus highlights our 2025 Women's Power Gap CEO Report.

Women hold 24% of CEO launchpad roles but only 8% of promotions. “We can only surmise that there’s bias in that final selection process,” says Andrea Silbert, president of the Eos Foundation.

Magdalena Wojtkiewicz Punty, MBA adds, “Even the women who made it to CEO through the CFO route had, in many cases, held a prior P&L role. It’s another way that the companies assure that the woman has that rounded experience [and] that they are 110% qualified.”

Read the article with the link below and the full report with the link in the comments.

About one in three women have to take this extra step to secure the corner office.

06/11/2025

Our data shows that S&P 500 women CEOs are just as, if not more, qualified than their male counterparts. In fact, women were 32% more likely to have served as President before becoming CEO.

Read our newest report to find out more: https://lnkd.in/g8d-Pw9d

06/11/2025

Women’s representation among CEOs of the S&P 500 companies increased from 2% to nearly 10% in the past 25 years. While still underrepresented, the good news is that in 2024, 11 new women CEOs were tapped, representing 17% (11 of 64) of all new CEO hires.

Read our newest report to find out more: https://lnkd.in/g8d-Pw9d

06/11/2025

Women of color are significantly underrepresented among the S&P 500 CEOs. There are only six Asian women and no Black or Hispanic women CEOs.

Read our newest report to find out more: https://lnkd.in/g8d-Pw9d

06/11/2025

The number of women leading S&P 500 companies has grown from just 9 in 2000 to 48 in 2025—that's nearly 10%! 🌟 And the momentum continues: Of the 64 new CEOs appointed in 2024, 11 were women, representing 17% of all new hires.

Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g8d-Pw9d

05/21/2025

Recently, some have questioned whether diversity initiatives have led to lowered standards in CEO appointments. To address this, our report conducted an in-depth analysis of the career paths of all S&P 500 CEOs.

The results show that women are just as, if not more, qualified than their male counterparts. In fact, women were 32% more likely to have served as President before becoming CEO.

Read our full report here: https://www.womenspowergap.org/corporate-report/