(NewsNation) — The share of women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies reached an all-time high this year, with 53 women leaders.
The share of women on those companies’ boards has grown gradually throughout the past 27 years — from 9.6% in 1995 to 30% in 2022, according to Pew Research Center. They now make up about 10% of all Fortune 500 company CEOs.
Earlier this year, women CEOs reached a unique milestone when they outnumbered those with the common and often male-assigned name John or Jon, according to a Bloomberg report from April.
Women are still far outnumbered among Fortune 500 CEOs, however.
That’s despite an increase 18% increase in their leadership from last year, Fortune reported. About 12 of today’s Fortune 500 women CEOs were hired to their jobs within the past year — a marker of executive turnover in the aftermath of the pandemic, according to the same Fortune report.
Those numbers don’t scratch the surface of other disparities within corporate America, either.
Black women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are even more scarce. Rosalind Brewer became the third Black woman head a Fortune 500 company on a non-interim basis in 2021, according to Forbes. She stepped down earlier this year.
