Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The U.S. Olympic women's basketball roster won't include Caitlin Clark, Denmark's prime minister was attacked, and women's share of new board seats hits a seven-year low. Have a mindful Monday.
- Board of it. The share of board appointments going to women has declined steadily since 2021 and hit a seven-year low in the first quarter of this year, according to a new report from the 50/50 Women on Boards Project. In the first three months of 2024, 30.7% of board appointments across the Russell 3000 index belonged to women—the lowest share since 2017.
In 2021, women made up 45% of new directors; in 2022, the stat was 39% and in 2023 it was 38%. This early 2024 measure of 30.7% (of a total of 587 seats) represents an even steeper drop-off.
The seven-year low arrives as women still hold only 29.7% of board seats across the Russell 3000, a 0.3% increase from last year. Women of color hold only 7.8%. While there has been progress over the past decade to diversify boards, that progress hasn't achieved anything near parity.
Heather Spilsbury, Women on Boards' CEO, identifies a few reasons for the decline. Economic uncertainty leads companies to revert to their existing networks rather than broaden board searches for a wider pool of candidates, she says. Election years, too, bring more risk aversion, she argues. Some boards lack clear succession plans, slowing down the process of bringing on new directors, she says. Meanwhile, companies are watching a wave of conservative legal efforts against corporate diversity and inclusion efforts. And California's SB826, which required boards in that state to have at least three female directors, was struck down in 2022, eliminating a strong motivator for businesses to maintain board diversity.
Across the Russell 3000, 41% of companies still have boards with two or fewer women. And some of those businesses are clearly focused on other pressures; companies with less diverse boards were more likely to exit the Russell 3000 because of sales, mergers, or bankruptcies, the report found. The financial services sector was the least diverse at the board level.
Expanding boards has led to the most successful diversification efforts; 87% of newly filled seats belonging to women were additions, not replacements.
"Addressing this decline requires a concerted effort from companies to actively seek out and support women, especially women of color," Spilsbury says. "Broader societal and systemic changes are necessary to ensure women have equal opportunities to advance into leadership roles."
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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