Women are making progress moving up the corporate ladder and into leadership positions in Michigan’s public companies.
That’s the general takeaway from the 2024 Women’s Leadership in Michigan Public Companies study, commissioned by Inforum Michigan, an organization dedicated to increasing opportunities and removing barriers for women in the workplace.
But it’s not coming fast enough to suit Terry Barclay, Inforum’s president and chief executive officer. Barclay noted the progress from Inforum’s first report – put out in 2003 – to now.
“It’s been two decades since 2003, and progress hasn’t been fast enough, especially in executive suites, and especially for women of color,” Barclay told a packed audience Wednesday at Inforum’s reveal event at The Henry in Dearborn. “We’re seeing progress since we first began doing this.”
The report tracks the advancement of women in prominent leadership roles – boards of directors, executive officers and named executive officers – within the largest publicly traded companies in Michigan.
It tracks results in 83 companies of varying sizes, which Inforum has broken into tiers:
- Tier 1 – Minimum market cap of $2.5 billion or $5 billion in revenue. There are 31 companies at this level.
- Tier 2 – Minimum market cap of $150 million or revenue of $100 million (26 companies).
- Tier 3 – Companies too small to meet Tier 2 criteria (26 companies).
The 2024 study showed progress for women in leadership roles over the 2022 study. Among the 83 companies, women made up:
- 26% of seats on boards of directors, up from 24% in the 2022 report and up from 9.6% in 2003.
- Women made up 23% of executive officers, up from 20% two years ago and more than double the 10% from the 2003 report.
- Women made up 18% of named executive officers, up from 14% in 2022 and up from 7.1% in the inaugural 2003 report.
- Women of color made up just 4% of directors and 3% of named executive officers.
One trend Barclay found disturbing was the number of first-time directors who were women of color. That number dropped from 61% two years ago to 31% in the 2024 report.
“I think the lack of progress and the low numbers (for women of color) are alarming,” Barclay said. “There needs to be more intentionality, not because it’s a ‘check the box’ activity, but because it means you’re leaving talent on the sidelines. It’s a good place to look to find great talent for boards. It’s an opportunity.”
One of the reasons for the low numbers for women is described in a McKinsey & Co, and LeanIn.org study as the “broken rung” syndrome. Inforum’s 2024 report shows that 48% of employees at entry level are women, and that percentage drops precipitously every step.
In other words, women aren’t getting as many chances at advancement as men.
“It’s a career ladder that disadvantages women starting with the very first opportunity for promotion,” Barclay said. (McKinzie’s) 2023 report notes that, although women have made significant gains … the broken rung continues to mean women have fewer opportunities than men to advance.”
There are other disturbing statistics in the report. For instance:
- Women lead only six of Michigan’s public companies and represent 18% of the top-five corporate positions across all companies.
- 29% of the companies have no women executive officers, up from 28% in 2022.
- 48% of companies have no women among the top-five compensated officers.
“The good news here is that that number was 54% in 2022 and nearly 60% in 2020,” Barclay noted, “so it is improving.”
Inforum has a “triple checklist” that tracks the number of companies who have at least one woman director, executive officer and top-five compensated officers. They also have a “triple zero” list of companies who have no women in any of those positions.
Of the 83 companies Inforum tracks, 41 made the “triple checklist” (up from 32 two years ago) and only four companies are “triple zero” companies with no women in any of the three positions.
“We know more companies are making an effort,” Barclay said.
While the report shows definite progress, Barclay said, there are steps companies can take to level the field, particularly for women of color:
- Put more practices in place to ensure promotions are equitable. That means expanding training to reduce bias in performance reviews.
- Track representation and hiring. “Sometimes it’s as simple as … knowing your numbers,” she said. “Most companies track their numbers for women; fewer do so for women of color.”
- Hold managers and senior leaders accountable for progress on diversity goals.
- Senior leaders need to frequently and visibly champion inclusive workplaces and provide more training to create that culture.
“What senior leadership does and is seen to do really matters,” Barclay said. “We really do have optimism for the future. We partner with more than 120 companies that support our vision of a culture that embraces women leading and succeeding.
“Effective leaders know that learning to assess and value the entire talent pool is not just an exercise in ‘checking a box’ or hitting diversity numbers,” she added. “It’s an investment in the future success of the company.”
