S&P500 Companies' Female Director Ratio Surpasses 30% for the First Time

(Photo by CNBC)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The proportion of female directors among major U.S. publicly traded companies has surpassed 30% for the first time in history.

On the 20th (local time), U.S. CNBC cited a report from management consulting firm Spencer Stuart, revealing that the percentage of women among all directors of S&P 500 companies reached 30% (as of the end of May), up 2 percentage points from last year (28%). Compared to 10 years ago in 2011 (16%), this is a 12 percentage point increase.

Companies with two or more female directors accounted for 96% of the total, a significant rise from 58% ten years ago. Companies with three or more female directors made up 72% of the total.

Additionally, among newly appointed outside directors this year, 47% were from minority ethnic backgrounds such as African American (33%), Asian (7%), and Hispanic (7%), more than doubling from last year’s 22%.

The proportion of African American outside directors increased about threefold from 11% last year to this year, and the proportion of Hispanic outside directors more than doubled from 3% last year to 7% this year. However, the proportion of Asian outside directors fell by 1 percentage point from 8% last year.

Among major companies, the boards of Starbucks and Accenture were the most racially diverse, with 50% of all directors being non-white.

While companies face challenges prioritizing diversity including gender, age, race, and professional background, the report analyzed that low board turnover rates are slowing the process of achieving more diverse board compositions.

CNBC forecasted that as long as companies maintain mandatory retirement ages instead of limiting directors’ terms, low replacement rates will continue for some time.

More than half of companies that have adopted mandatory retirement ages for directors set the age at 75 or older. The proportion of companies adopting mandatory retirement ages for directors slightly decreased from 73% in 2011 to 70% this year.