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The Rise of Female CEOs

Writer's picture: Emma HammackEmma Hammack

Emma Hammack 4/6/23


For the first time in history more than 10% of Fortune 500 companies are run by female CEOs! Women earn the majority of college degrees and make up half the workforce, but only run 10% of Fortune 500s? Over the course of hundreds of years, finally in 2023 women run 10% of Fortune 500s, while this is great progress I can’t help but wonder why have women only reached this point, only 10%?

Gender bias is the biggest proponent in the ability for women to climb the corporate ladders. Unfortunately most gender bias is unconscious, meaning people don't know they have a bias or are being sexist. According to Mckinsey and Company, while both men and women ask for promotions, women are still being promoted less than men and from research it is believed the cause is gender bias. Furthermore women of color are promoted even less and very unrepressed. Women make up so little of executive level positions because it is harder for them to be put on the path to leadership; the first step for women to be in leadership positions is to be promoted to be a manager. Again according to Mckinsey for every 100 men promoted to managerial positions, only 72 women are promoted to the same positions.

How can we close this gap? Gender Bias and diversity training in the workplace. Gender bias training has proved to improve communication, collaborations and increase promotions. Gender bias training improves the overall view of women in the workplace. Women actually negotiate for promotions and raises more often than men and according to research surveys they receive feedback that they were “too aggressive or bossy” when voicing their opinion and arguments. Most of this feedback comes from gender bias about women needing to be “caring, nurturing and group oriented,” so men with this bias are not used to seeing women advocate for themselves. Therefore the root to most women having a harder time climbing the ladder to CEO positions is unconscious bias. Society needs to unlearn this unconscious bias and consciously train themselves to believe women can do anything a man can. Companies that have gender bias and diversity training actually perform better and have a happier workforce.

Companies that do have female CEOs according to the Personal Finance Club performed better than companies run by men. The 32 companies in the Fortune 500s that have female CEOs significantly outperformed the other 94% of Fortune 500s run by men. The companies that appointed a woman as CEO are more likely to have been forward-thinking and have less gender bias thinking, even before bringing her on.

We at Divarity are hopeful that this gender imbalance will change in the near future and more diversity will be included in every level of leadership. This is our small way of shining a spotlight on gender bias and trying to help fill the gaps a little bit faster.

If you are a woman who is looking to take on a leadership role, YOU GOT THIS. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you, you can’t do it. YOU ARE CAPABLE OF ANYTHING. If you catch yourself having any doubts, ask yourself if a man would ever have those same doubts, then turn on the song The Man by Taylor Swift and go out there to catch your dreams. We need more female leaders out!



Works Cited

Gillett, Rachel. “Gender Bias Could Make It Harder for Women to Become CEO, According to a Recent Study.” Business Insider, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/why-women-almost-never-become-ceo-2016-9.

Hinchliffe, Emma. “Women Run More than 10% of Fortune 500 Companies for the First Time.” Fortune, Fortune, 12 Jan. 2023, https://fortune.com/2023/01/12/fortune-500-companies-ceos-women-10-percent/.

Schneider, Jeremy. “Are Female CEOS Better than Male Ceos?” Personal Finance Club, 8 Mar. 2023, https://www.personalfinanceclub.com/are-female-ceos-better-than-male-ceos/#:~:text=The%2032%20companies%20that%20have,%25%20from%20male%2Dled%20companies.

“Why so Few CEOS Are Women: 'You Can Have a Seat at the Table and Not Be a Player'.” Home, https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/home/newsroom/blog/why-so-few-ceos-are-women-you-can-have-a-seat-at-the-table-and-not-be-a-player.html.


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DIVARITY = Diversity + Parity

Diversity means including everyone: any race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Parity means the state or condition of being equal. Together they are Divarity. We created Divarity to change the way the world views the contributions of women to society - we want to spread awareness about women in history who have impacted the United States and the rest of the world. In order to achieve equality in both sexes, change needs to start in the education system.

DIVARITY FOUNDATION is a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. 

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