Number of women on boards and in C-suites drops - Boston Business Journal:

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The report, the , was commissioned by The and includerdthe state’s 100 largest public companies. and human resource research firm Mercer also collaborates on the survey andsubsequent report. The biggesrt falloff was seen in theexecutivde suite, as women now hold 68 C-level positions out of the 736 studie in Massachusetts — the lowest numbef of women reported in six years. Last year, 82 women held senior-levekl positions in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, the numbe of women who serv as directors has droppedto 92, down from 96 in 2007. 30 of the state’s 100 largest companie do not have women in either their executives offices or intheir boardrooms. In 2007, that numberd was 23.
The study’xs authors cited turnover in the companies analyzef as one major reason for thenumbers Likewise, some area companies have been acquired or altering their leadership mix in the process. the numbers speak volumes about the statd of affairs for wome n at publiclytraded companies, the authorx said. “It’s been bad since we started but it seems to begetting It’s much worse this year than it said Susan Adams, an associate professor of managementr at Bentley University.
The percentage of womehn in executive roles reached its highesr levelin 2006, when women held 11 percent of the This year, the rate of women executivee officers dropped back to 2003 and 2004’s levels of 9.2 Meanwhile, the percentage of women 11 percent of all directors, was down from last year’es 11.5 percent, but still higher than 2003’s rate of 9 The study’s sponsors see the drop from 2007 as a possiblee foreshadowing of years to come, as fewerd women executives will be in the pipelinew for board nominations. “W hope it’s a one-year Might it continue? Who knows?” said William K.
the New England managing partner of and vice chairmabn of theBoston Club’s advisoru board. Bacic and the others involved withthis year’sx census are calling for more aggressive recruitment of women. “I’ m on five public boards, and two of them are going to be announcinggnew recruits. I feel like at leastr I can do something with those two saidSally Crawford, who is on the board for , one of the companies included in the study. Another critical next step is to holdmale decision-makera accountable.
“We’ll be accelerating our efforts in 2009 with a very specififc and disciplined outreach plan in terms of how we get in frontg of people influencingthese decisions,” said JoAnm Cavallaro, a founding partner of and chairwoman of the Bostonh Club’s corporate board committee. “Our job is to make the business case, and there is a compellingv case to make for moving women ahear into executive positions and into boardd positions.
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