It will take 70 years for there to be as many women as men on the boards of directors of the 500 largest U.S. companies at the pace women are getting such positions, a study released on Wednesday revealed.
Last year, women held 14.7 percent of the 5,629 seats on the boards of the top 500 companies as ranked by Fortune magazine, the study found.
That number rose from 13.6 percent in 2003 and 9.6 percent in 1995, according to the study by Catalyst, a research and advisory group that works to expand workplace opportunities for women.
The rate of progress over the past decade has been, on average, one-half of 1 percentage point each year, the study by the nonprofit group said.
"Our research reveals that if we continue at this pace, it could take 70 years for women to reach parity with men on corporate boards," said Ilene Lang, Catalyst president, in a statement.
Catalyst began monitoring the number of women in board director positions in 1995.
The study also showed women typically served solo or with just one other woman on a company's board.
To adjust that balance, women needed to network and be more self-promoting, while boards could broaden their search for members beyond traditional sources, said Anne Lim O'Brien, a senior partner at Heidrick & Struggles, a Chicago-based executive search firm and a co-sponsor of the Catalyst study.
"Corporations should want the voice of diversity on their boards as their own customers and consumer landscapes change," she said. "That's doing good business, knowing what your consumers and customer bases look like.
"Gender diversity really does impact how a board functions in terms of different voices, different views, making better decisions," she added.
Since 1995, the number of Fortune 500 companies without any female directors fell to 53 from 96, Catalyst said.
The number of the companies with 25 percent or more women on their boards of directors grew to 64 last year from 11 in 1995, it said.
