More, but Not Many, Women in Top Jobs at Big Companies

Women are making slow but steady progress into the executive suites of corporate America, both in the number of top jobs held by women at the largest corporations and in the ranks of top earners at those companies, according to an analysis released Thursday.

But women are having trouble breaking through the “glass wall” into the sort of line positions that create chief executives. And minority women in major corporations are still rare, noted a report by Catalyst, a New York-based women’s advocacy and research group.

A total of 1,386 women were corporate officers at the nation’s 500 largest companies as of March 31, representing 11.9% of officers. That’s a 37% increase over 1995, when Catalyst began its census.

Women who are top earners in their companies more than doubled since 1995, jumping to 77, or 3.3% of all top earners, from 29, or 1.2%.

“Consistently, the numbers have gone up year after year, and that’s encouraging,” Catalyst President Sheila Wellington said.

But the report uncovered a clear shortage of women in line officer jobs, which are positions with profit-and-loss or direct client responsibilities that often lead to the highest jobs in the corporation. Men held 93.2% of those jobs, Catalyst found.

“It’s clear that there are barriers that have to be analyzed and eliminated,” Wellington said. “This keeps women from getting the experience they need to move up the corporate ladder.”

Only 1.3% of corporate officers were minority women, the study found. This was the first year Catalyst gathered that data.

Catalyst is challenging corporations to fill 25% of officer jobs with women by 2005, with half being line positions.

When Catalyst compiled its data, only two women held chief executive jobs at Fortune 500 companies: Jill Barad of Mattel and Marion Sandler of Golden West Financial. Since then, Carleton S. Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard and Andrea Jung of Avon joined the exclusive club.

Wellington is pleased to see more women CEOs, but added: “When you’re talking about doubling from two to four and you have seen 20 years where women have made up one-quarter to one-third of MBA graduates, then you get a sense that there is more progress to be made.”