Slow-But-Sure Progress Toward Parity in the Boardroom

Far away from the boardroom (there are boards involved, but they are more of the variety that happen when players miss shots), gender diversity was on full display in the WNBA when University of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark was drafted to the league's Indiana Fever. Of course, the WNBA is a women's league, so the gender diversity was not seen on the court. But it was reflected in the profits for sportswear retailer Fanatics (so I guess this is connected to the boardroom after all).

When Clark was selected to her first professional team, her jersey quickly became the top-selling jersey ever for a draft pick. In fact, it sold out, and anyone who was interested in getting one after the initial spree has to wait until August before their Clark jersey will be shipped. The popularity of Clark's jersey is just one sign of a new (and hopefully sustainable) popularity for the WNBA. NBC News reported that coverage of the 2024 WNBA draft peaked at 3.09 million viewers, a number four times higher than the number of people who watched the 2023 WNBA draft. It was also reported that the Las Vegas Aces – the defending champions of the WNBA – would move their July 2 game against Clark's Indiana Fever from 12,000-seat Michelob Ultra Arena to 18,000-seat T-Mobile Arena just to meet the growing interest in witnessing Clark's plying of her trade.

Indeed for the WNBA, Caitlin Clark is the high tide that the league hopes will raise all boats. Meanwhile, in the boardroom, there is no one superstar who everyone is dying to see provide corporate governance excellence for their company, so the rise will have to be a bit more reserved. Luckily, several reports have shown that the increase in female directors in 2023 and 2024 has been steady, if not as great as many would have hoped.

In November 2023, The Conference Board reported that the percentage of female directors continued to rise, with the share of female directors in the S&P 500 growing from 31% in 2022 to 32% in 2023. The percentage of female directors in the Russell 3000 saw similar growth, from 27% in 2022 to 28% in 2023. For those who are fans of more astronomical jumps, The Conference Board's reporting saw the percentage of Russell 3000 companies with three or more female directors climb from 18% in 2018 to 54% in 2023. In the S&P 500, that percentage climbed from 47% in 2018 to 86% in 2023. However, the report found that the percentage of new directors who are female had fallen in 2023 for both the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000, with the former group's share of new female directors falling from 43% in 2022 to 38% in 2023, and the latter's sliding from 42% in 2022 to 39% in 2023.

As part of its tracking of women appointed to public company boards, Women Business Collaborative (along with Equilar) reported that 28.4% of new directors of public companies were women, with 45.7% of that number being first-time board appointments and 16% of the newly appointed directors self-identifying as people of color. According to the report, health care and financial services are two industries that are leading the way in appointments of female public company directors.

If public company boards in the United States are interested in working toward gender parity in the boardroom, they might be wise to look to countries around the world for an example. Russell Reynolds Associates' “Global Corporate Governance Trends for 2024” revealed that France, Italy and the United Kingdom have more than 40% of their seats held by women, and nine other countries have a cumulative board percentage of over 30% women. Even countries that have traditionally been a bit behind in the search for gender parity, such as Singapore and Malaysia, are making progress, with women holding almost 25% of the independent board seats available, thanks in part to diversity disclosures, which became mandatory in 2022.

For women board directors, the quest for parity in the boardroom will be a continual fight, as every achievement can become a backslide if progress is not carefully monitored. After all, even Caitlin Clark is not immune from this. Her record was broken by incoming Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams just 10 days after it was set. Whether people continue buying her jersey or not, Clark is certain to be a player on the rise over the next few years. Hopefully, we can say the same for the percentage of women directors populating our boardrooms for generations to come.