Most boards globally now have at least one female director, report finds
Despite recent attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, a new report has revealed that most boards across the world have at least one female director.
Egon Zehnder's annual Global Board Diversity Tracker revealed that 96% of boards across the world have at least one female director, continuing the rising trend since 2012.
It also found that seven countries are already close to achieving gender parity on their boards, including:
- New Zealand (46.7%)
- France (45%)
- Norway (44.4%)
- Australia (42.4%)
- United Kingdom (42%)
- Spain (42%)
- Italy (41.8%)
DEI withdrawal in the US
The findings come despite the major DEI scale back from a growing number of organisations in the United States, such as Walmart, Toyota, Harley-Davidson, among others, following strong backlash from conservative activists.
This withdrawal is also reflected in Egon Zehnder's data, which found that the number of new female board directors appointed globally dropped to 14.2% in the past two years.
Source: Egon Zehnder's Global Board Diversity Tracker
There is also a decrease in appointments of ethnic and racial minority directors in the S&P 500, where representation for people of colour was down to 24.2% in 2024.
The report further pointed out that there is a lack of LGBTQ+ representation at the board level, such as the case in the Fortune 500, where only 45 out of more than 5,400 board seats at firms are held by openly LGBTQ+ individuals.
'Continued commitment' to DEI
Despite these setbacks, Cynthia Soledad, Global Head of DEI at Egon Zehnder, noted that she sees the continuous commitment of leaders towards diversity and inclusion.
"To me, it is clear that the questions raised by DEI critics present opportunities for innovation, not deletion, for corporate leaders," Soledad said in a statement.
"In my conversations with C-suite and board leaders, I see a continued commitment to more diverse representation and greater inclusion. The pace and tone might look different going forward than in years past, but executives still consider diversity critical to their business."
Among the action steps that Egon Zehnder recommended to boost diversity and inclusion in the boardroom include:
- Reaffirming the board's commitment to actively including diverse perspectives, taking a broad view on diversity
- Committing to meeting a diverse slate of candidates in the board recruitment process
- Continuously evolving board practices to ensure all perspectives are included and valued in discussions.
