Dive Brief:
- Women hold fewer than one in five chief information or technology officer positions at leading companies in the U.S., according to analysis from organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry. The firm analyzed the top 1,000 U.S. companies by revenue to determine representation of women in the C-suite across sectors.
- Representation for CIO/CTOs has increased slightly since last year. In 2018, 16% of CIO/CTO roles were held by women.
- The financial industry has the largest representation of women CIO/CTOs, where 25% of women hold the position, according to Korn Ferry. In the services sector, by comparison, only 7% of CIO/CTO positions are held by women.
Dive Insight:
The representation of women holding technology positions in the C-suite falls in the middle. More than half of chief human resource officers are women. But just 6% of the top 1,000 companies in the U.S. have women CEOs, a stagnant percentage since last year.
Women account for one-quarter of C-suite officials at top U.S. companies, up slightly from 23% last year, according to Korn Ferry's analysis.
Year over year, gender diversity improvements in the C-suite are minimal and rapid disruption seems unlikely.
In technology, there is a pipeline problem. As Korn Ferry points out, more women are choosing to grow their careers in technology, but it will take time for women to move through the ranks and ascend into technology leadership roles.
Industry working to boost gender diversity helps. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a partnership with the Girl Scouts to develop a cybersecurity program and promote internet user awareness. As HPE CISO Liz Joyce told CIO Dive, "kids cannot aspire to be what they cannot see or what they cannot imagine."
California is promoting gender diversity at the board level. Last year, the governor signed a bill into law mandating companies with headquarters in the state have at least one woman on its board of directors by the end of this year.
