Women are — slowly — gaining more seats on corporate boards, according to an MSCI ESG Research report released Monday.
The annual Women on Boards and Beyond report found that women held 25.8% of board seats at global companies in the MSCI ACWI index in 2023, up from 24.5% in 2022. That 1.3-percentage-point growth is down from 1.9 percentage points in 2022.
The report also found geographical differences, with women holding "far more" directorships in developed markets than emerging ones.
Health care again had the highest ratio of companies with at least 30% women on boards, while information technology still had the most all-male boards at 15%, an 0.8% increase from 2022.
Of 11 sectors tracked, real estate saw the steepest decline in all-male boards, falling to 8.6% from 14.8% in 2022.
Since MSCI ESG Research began doing the report in 2019, the number of female CEOs has doubled, reaching 8% in midsize and large U.S. companies in 2023. Yet for all companies, only 9.1% of board chair roles and 6.5% of CEO roles were held by women in 2023. Female CEOs of U.S. companies are paid nearly 20% less than their male counterparts on average, the report found.
MSCI ESG Research projects that gender representation on company boards will be equal by 2040 and reach 40% women on boards in 2033.
Gender diversity exceeded ethnic and racial diversity for both boards and executives, although boards were more diverse than executive suites, both in terms of gender and ethnicity, the report said, based on limited corporate disclosures of ethnic and racial diversity.
"Expanding diversity considerations beyond gender and boards is not only in line with regulatory and investors' expectations, but it could also help companies leverage a greater pool of talent in their leadership succession planning," the report said.