Just 14.4 per cent of executive officers are women and 136 Fortune 500 companies have no female executives
(Reuters) - Women saw little advancement in pay and corporate boardrooms in the United States over the past year, extending a trend in which companies have lagged in promoting women, a new study shows.
"This is our fifth report where the annual change in female leadership remained flat. If this trend line represented a patient's pulse, she'd be dead," said Ilene Lang, president and chief executive of Catalyst, a non-profit organization that advocates greater opportunities for women.
"Corporate America needs to get 'unstuck' when it comes to advancing women to leadership," Lang said.
The study was based on annual filings made by Fortune 500 companies to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or, in the case of insurance companies, to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
It found that 136 of the Fortune 500 companies had no women executives, among them Exxon Mobil Corp, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Costco Wholesale and Sears Holding.
Women held 14.4 per cent of executive officer positions in 2010, up from 13.5 per cent in 2009, and female executive officers held 7.6 per cent of the top earning positions, up from 6.3 per cent in 2009, the 2010 Catalyst Census showed.
The best five companies in terms of women in the executive suite were Gap, H&R Block, Limited Brands, TIAA-CREF and Western Union.
Women held 15.7 per cent of board seats in 2010, a 0.5-percentage-point gain over 2009, and more than 10 per cent of companies lacked any women on their boards in 2009 and 2010.
Catalyst research showed men with mentors were promoted more and compensated at a higher rate than women, while women with mentors were far less likely to be promoted or paid more as a result of being mentored.
Men with mentors had starting salaries in their first post-MBA jobs that were, on average, $9,260 higher than the starting salaries of women with mentors.
While senior-level mentors — those in a position to provide sponsorship — helped women advance further and earn more than those with less senior mentors, men with senior-level mentors still had greater salary increases than women with senior-level mentors.
Men also received more promotions than women and their promotions came with an average 21-per-cent increase in compensation, while women's compensation increased by only two per cent per promotion.
Companies need to be convinced that diversity in leadership is important, said Lang.
"To be successful, they have to have more points of view — people from all kinds of backgrounds — and have diversity in the senior leadership," she said.
