Women's News: The CEO pipeline gender gap

Hello! It’s a jam-packed issue today so without further ado, here’s what’s on the rise this week:

Spotlight

A recent analysis of the S&P 100 found that just 9% of the largest U.S. companies have female CEOs. Even more critically, the data suggests women are significantly underrepresented in other executive roles that typically lead to the CEO position.

• Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) are the most traditional “feeder” roles for the top job — in 2023, 57% of newly appointed CEOs at major companies were promoted from COO or president positions. 

• According to the report, just 8% of COOs and 20% of CFOs are women, meaning the pipeline of future CEOs is overwhelmingly male. To reach parity, there would need to be 6.6x more women COOs and 2.5x more women CFOs in the S&P 100.

• The only exception is the Chief Human Resources Officer role, held by women in 72% of S&P 100 companies. However, it's the lowest-paid executive position and seldom serves as a pathway to CEO.

• To increase gender diversity at the top, the study urges companies to broaden the pool of executives considered for CEO roles and ensure women executives feel a sense of belonging and see the impact of their contributions.

World

• New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins shot back at “vile” and “misogynistic” remarks following the sinking of a woman-captained navy ship. Online trolls were quick to blame the incident on the captain’s gender, despite her 30 years of naval experience. All passengers were safe.  

• South Korea’s parliament made it illegal to watch or possess deepfake pornography as the country continues to battle a wave of non-consensual, AI-generated, sexually explicit images targeting women and girls.

• Lily Ebert, a Holocaust survivor whose storytelling made her a TikTok star, passed away at 100.

U.S.

• Many regions in the South are still recovering from Hurricanes Milton and Helene, and in North Carolina, women are going above and beyond to help — a network of doulas, lactation consultants, and other providers are traveling by horseback to provide supplies and wellness checks for pregnant women and babies affected by the storms. 

• Lilly Ledbetter, a women’s rights activist and trailblazer for equal pay, passed away at 86. She was the namesake for one of the most significant gender pay equity laws, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.

Business and Tech

• Spanx founder Sara Blakely’s latest innovation, the sneaker with a stiletto heel, has been on the market for a few months, but reception is still mixed. According to Blakely, some styles of Sneex have already sold out, but critics have called it the “shoe no one asked for.”

• Social media platforms like TikTok and Meta are censoring ads related to fertility treatments like IVF and egg-freezing, which startups in the space say makes it difficult to market their services online.

Election Watch

Politics

• 15 women are well-positioned to win House seats in November, the majority of whom first sought political office after the 2016 election. Their ascension shows the lasting impact of the “Trump effect,” or the surge of women who entered politics during his first presidential term.

• Meet Kristin Lyerly, the OB-GYN in Wisconsin running for Congress in hopes that her abortion rights platform will flip a red House seat.

• Georgia’s six-week abortion ban is back in effect after the state Supreme Court paused a recent decision that struck down the law.

Sports

• Jessica Campbell made history this week as the first woman to coach in a National Hockey League regular-season game. She is an assistant for the Seattle Kraken, whose season opener was October 8. 

• Boston’s new women’s soccer team will be called BOS Nation FC, a name that aims to evoke “boss energy,” suggest a fan-centric identity, and nod to the city’s three-letter airport code. 

• Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich beat the women’s marathon world record by nearly two minutes, finishing the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:09:56.

• Rhiane Fatinikun founded Black Girls Hike after noticing the lack of Black representation among British hikers. The organization has since welcomed hundreds of Black women eager to explore nature.

Culture

• It’s “goth girl autumn” as Hollywood’s nostalgia for the 1980s and '90s is bringing goth heroines back to the screen. With movies like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and TV shows like Wednesday, observers say this revival has an “aspirational girl-power quality.” 

• Author Han Kang became the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is the eighteenth woman to receive the honor.

• Star K-pop singer Hanni testified before South Korea’s parliament about the high levels of bullying in the industry, advocating for better treatment of young artists.

Further Reading