Board Refreshment Drives Progress Toward Gender Parity

Gender diversity on public company boards has become a hot-button topic in recent years, as investors and other governance advisors have shined a spotlight on the issue. Major institutional investors have ramped up action, spurring further discussion and lighting the fire for boards to address more thorough director evaluation and refreshment. Approximately half the population and the workforce is female, but the representation of women in corporate leadership roles pales in comparison.

A case in point, women still only account for a fraction of the total seats available on public company boards of directors. According to the latest Equilar Gender Diversity Index (GDI)—a quarterly update of female directors in the Russell 3000—just 15.9% of board seats belonged to women as of March 31, 2017, up from 15.1% for the full year 2016. The Equilar GDI is now at 0.32, with 1.0 being equal representation of both male and female directors on public company boards.

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