Women hold 9% of S&P 100 CEO roles, report finds

Key facts

• Women hold 9% of CEO roles in the S&P 100.
• Women hold 8% of COO roles and 20% of CFO roles in the S&P 100.
• Women account for 29% of all executives in the top leadership teams of the S&P 100.
• Men are 10.2 times more likely to be CEOs in the S&P 100.
• Only six S&P 100 organizations have achieved gender parity on their senior leadership teams.
• C-suite women lost seats in the S&P Total Market Index for the first time in two decades.

Women remain severely underrepresented in leadership positions within the S&P 100, holding only 9% of CEO roles, according to a March 2024 analysis by Russell Reynolds Associates. The report, which examined the top 100 companies in the S&P 500, found that men are 10.2 times more likely to be CEOs and 2.5 times more likely to be executives overall compared to women. Women account for 29% of all executives in these top leadership teams, while making up 50.5% of the U.S. population. The analysis also highlighted that women are significantly underrepresented in critical CEO feeder roles such as Chief Operating Officer (COO), where they hold 8% of positions, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), where they hold 20%. This persistent "decision gap" at the top is hindering progress toward gender parity in leadership. A separate report from S&P Global indicated that for the first time in two decades, C-suite women lost seats in the S&P Total Market Index, with their representation falling from 12.2% in 2022 to 11.8% by the end of 2023.