Overview
The data from this study suggest that the lack of women at the top levels of our largest corporations cannot solely be explained as a problem of a “leaky pipeline.” The fact that women comprise 25% of executive team members, drop to 10% of highest paid executives, and 4% of CEOs, points to systemic institutional bias at the highest levels of power and influence. We offer the recommendations below as a starting point for what we hope will be a deep public discussion.
- Women are making gains as members of corporate boards and among board leadership
- Yet, within internal executive 100% management, progress is glacial 90%
- Women of color are grossly underrepresented both at the board and executive levels
- The glass ceiling persists despite a ready pipeline
Recommendations
Culture is set at the top. Achieving gender parity and racial balance within corporate Massachusetts will require, deliberation, intentionality, and systemic change. We offer this short list of recommendations at as a starting point for what we hope will be a deep public discussion; the complete list is found in the full report.
- Set diversity goals and tie compensation (including CEOs) to achieving those goals
- Tackle unconscious bias deeply and head on
- De-bias all processes within the organization
- Issue and make public an annual diversity report
KEY STATS
In Massachusetts, Women and people of color represent 51.5% and nearly 30%, respectively, of the state’s population. We undertook this research to understand the gender and racial representation among the 25 largest companies in the state, a proxy for corporations across the Commonwealth.
Key findings:
- The corporate ladder appears to be broken at the top rung for both women and people of color. While women account for 25% of executive teams, from which CEOs are chosen, they only comprise 10% of highest paid executives and 4% of CEOs.
- Women of color are grossly underrepresented on both boards and within executive management, holding only 6% of boards seats and 3% of executive leadership positions.
- Progress has been made on corporate boards where women count 31% of seats, demonstrating that focus and intentionality yield results.
The data also show:
- 1 company – Bright Horizons – has reached gender parity across all leadership levels, demonstrating that gender parity is possible now!
- 5 companies have women Lead Independent Directors (LIDs) – American Tower, Bright Horizons, Hologic, Skyworks, and State Street.
- 3 companies have reached gender parity among their executive leadership teams – Alexion, Alnylam, and Bright Horizons; Alnylam has also reached fair representation of women of color for this group
- Insulet is the only company among the 25 with a female CEO.
- Alnylam is the only company to have reached fair representation of women of color (15+%) on its executive leadership team.
- 80% of top companies score as “unsatisfactory” or “need urgent attention,” requiring significant change to achieve gender parity, according to the report.
- Women of color are grossly underrepresented across the board, especially among the CEOs and LIDs, and they comprise only 1% of highest paid executives (HPEs), 3% of the executive leadership teams, and 6% of board members.
- 14 companies do not have a single woman among their highest paid executives – Akamai, American Tower, Analog Devices, Boston Properties, Boston Scientific, Eversource, Keurig Dr Pepper, PerkinElmer, Raytheon, Skyworks, Teradyne, Thermo Fisher, Vertex, and Wayfair.
Read more in the WOMEN’S POWER GAP IN CORPORATE MASSACHUSETTS 2020 STUDY AND RANKINGS. See how these companies stack up to each other by using our interactive tool to sort through them.
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP RANKING OF TOP 25 MASSACHUSETTS COMPANIES
This index ranks the Top 25 Companies in Massachusetts by their gender parity among key levels of leadership. You can sort by column headings below or use the search function. To learn more about how we calculated this data, please refer to PAGE 16 of the report.
