Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business – Progress?

Posted on December 6, 2009

In November 2009, FORTUNE magazine unveiled their annual 50 Most Powerful Women list.

Their headline: “In 1998 when the Most Powerful Women in Business list premiered, just two of our honorees ran Fortune 500 companies. This year 13 do.”

So let’s do the numbers: in a decade’s time, an increase of nearly 600% which means that women CEOs of FORTUNE 500 companies went from representing .4% of CEOs to 2.6%.

Bottom line: we’ve got a long way to go.

No wonder the French Parliament is contemplating requiring that 50% of all corporate boards be composed of women within the next five years. Can companies get there without requiring government intervention?

And to take it one important step further: when it comes to women of color among the Top 50 women, they can be counted on one hand…

About Andrés

Andrés Tapia is President of Diversity Best Practices, the preeminent diversity and inclusion thinktank and consultancy. In this role, he helps companies create first-in-class diversity strategies and develop innovative solutions for culture change. Previously he served as Hewitt’s Chief Diversity Officer and Emerging Workforce Solutions Leader. As a published writer and prominent speaker, Andrés offers thought-provoking views about diversity’s impact around the world. He is the author of The Inclusion Paradox: The Obama Era and the Transformation of Global Diversity. Find his bio here.