Source: Fortune
The number of women running America's largest corporations has hit a new high: 37 of the companies on this year's Fortune 500 are led by female CEOs.
The Fortune 500, which ranks America's largest companies, has long been seen as a microcosm of U.S. business at large. For that reason, the number of female chief executives on the list is closely watched statistic among those who track gender diversity in board rooms and C-suites across the country.
This year's tally soundly beats last year's 33, which was itself a new record. Yet the big picture is less encouraging: even with a record 37 female CEOs, women run just 7.4% of the 500 businesses on the ranking. (For perspective: Twenty years ago, women ran two.) Only in the past four years has the growth of women in these roles accelerated past 30—a general upwards trend, though there have been dips along the way.