MSCI just published their annual Women on Boards and Beyond report, which highlights trends across markets and sectors for large- and mid-cap companies and provides an overview of the state of diversity on boards and in other corporate leadership roles. While this year’s report reveals continued progress on diversity, it also shows that the progress is moving at a slower pace than past years. The highlights:

  • Women held 25.8% of board seats at large- and mid-cap companies in 2023, up just from 24.5% in 2022.
  • Only 9.1% of board-chair roles were held by women. Although still very low, this percentage has more than doubled since 2019.
  • Boards were more diverse than executive suites, both in terms of gender and ethnicity. Gender diversity was greater than ethnic and racial diversity for both boards and executives, according to the limited U.K. and U.S. data available in this area.
  • CEO positions remained male dominated. The analysis suggests, however, gender-pay equity at the CEO level for base salaries and stock awards.

This year, MSCI expanded their lens to include racial and ethnicity data as well as gender representation at different management levels. To bring in an aspect of equity, they also analyzed CEO pay by gender.

For the complete insights, download the full report: Women on Boards and Beyond: 2023