Percentage of Women in Top US Corporate Roles Drops for First Time in Nearly 20 Years

• Percentage of women in C-suites at US public companies dropped for the first time since 2005, falling from 12.2% to 11.8%

• Growth in percentage of women in senior leadership roles slowed to just 0.5%, lowest rate in over a decade

• Possible contributing factor is waning focus on diversity and inclusion efforts - mentions of "diversity" and "inclusion" fell to lowest levels since 2012

• Progress still made over long term - women held less than 8% of senior roles in 2005 versus 22.3% in 2023

• At current slow growth rate, goal of gender parity in senior roles could be pushed back 7 years to as late as 2042