Record-breaking Number of Women Appointed to Public Boards

Women Joining Public Boards November Monthly Report, empowered by Equilar, clearly demonstrates the call for diversity is being heard by public companies. In November 2020, public companies appointed women to fill 112 seats, or 42% of the 266 overall appointments including 33 women who identified as women of color. Black women comprised 72.7% of those women. The 42% figure marks a rising trend for appointments and is up from the newsworthy 40.9% in October. November and October data show a doubling of women from a year ago and clearly women of color making huge gains.

The Women Joining Public Boards report shows the numbers, rates and profiles of women appointed to public boards with a focus on diversity and analyzes the industry sectors where women are participating on boards. Edie Fraser, CEO of WBC remarks, “We share this monthly report showing not only the numbers increase—doubling since 2019– but naming the companies and sharing the profiles.”

112 women were named to public boards in November, 42% of board seats. Of the appointments, 56 of those were first time appointments. It’s worth noting that this good news means more women are being appointed to the highest levels of public companies.
In November, 33 women identified as women of color, 72.7% of those being black women. This is a critical measure as diversity is at the forefront of business leadership and business practices in 2020. And progress is accelerating.
Healthcare companies continue to lead the way in appointing women closely followed by the companies in the technology and industrials sectors. The financial services industry is seeing an uptick in board appointments who are women including at Visa and Fidelity. The energy sector is showing growth too and appointed 7 women, including two at Oasis Petroleum.
The November 2020 report continues WBC’s deep dive into the compilation and analysis of comprehensive data for women joining boards of public companies. The Women Business Collaborative (WBC), an alliance of 43+ women business organizations and many stakeholders representing tens of thousands of diverse professional men and women, collaborating together to achieve equal position, pay and power for all business women) is partnering with Equilar, the leader in corporate data, to produce this monthly report and drive our dashboard of data and women CEOs.

The rise in appointments is accompanied by calls from groups such as NASDAQ who want to require the more than 3,000 companies listed on its stock exchange to improve boardroom diversity by appointing at least one woman and at least one minority or LGBTQ+ person to their boards. NASDAQ said its decision is based on the significant link found between diverse boards and better corporate governance and financial performance. The Latino Corporate Directors Association, a member of the WBC Women on Boards Initiative, calls for many more Latinos on boards.

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