Empowering Women in Business

How Your Industry and Company Compare

Although women have made inroads into middle management, the senior levels of corporations remain almost exclusively male domains. Only 4.5% of the Fortune 500 directorships are held by women, and only 5.6% of the Fortune Service 500 directorships are held by women.

Of the top Fortune 50 companies in 1990, women held only 6.7% of the directorships and were a paltry 2.2% of corporate officers. Fifty-four percent of the companies had only one woman on their board, and 30% of the companies had no women on their board. Phillip Morris leads the top 50 companies with 4 women (out of 21) directors on its board, although they have no women in senior officers positions. Fully 68% of the Fortune 50 companies had no women executives at the vice-presidential level and up.

Despite the fact that women have dominated the service industries as employees, companies are not doing much better in promoting women to the top of the services sector. Women fare best on the corporate boards of the 50 largest utilities, with 8.2% of the directorships, but hold only 3.3% of the officer positions. The 50 largest life insurance firms rank next, with 7.8% women directors. Commercial banking companies and transportation companies show the lowest representation of women on their boards.

Women rank highest as executives in the savings and loan industry (6.8%) and life insurance industry (6.2%). The next highest percentage of women executives is found in diversified financial companies (4.8%).

Table of Contents

OFFICERS AT FORTUNE 500 SERVICE COMPANIES

Rank                                     Women   Men   %Women
-------------------------------------------------------------
1 100 Largest Diversified Service Co.     44    1184    3.6
2 100 Largest Commercial Banking Co.      51    1235    4.0
3  50 Largest Diversified Financial Co.   28     550    4.8
4  50 Largest Life Insurance Firms        44     663    6.2
5  50 Largest Retailers                   28     720    3.7
6  50 Largest Savings Institutions        45     613    6.8
7  50 Largest Transportation Co.          17     529    3.1
8  50 Largest Utilities                   24     696    3.3
-------------------------------------------------------------
   TOTAL                                 281    6190    4.3%
        
Source: Mary Ann Von Gilnow and Anna Krzyczkowska,                         
"The Fortune 500: A Cast of Thousands," 1988.  Data updated
by Von Gilnow, 1990.

DIRECTORS AT FORTUNE 500 SERVICE COMPANIES
   
Rank                                     Women   Men   %Women 
-------------------------------------------------------------
1 100 Largest Diversified Service Co.     50    1079    4.4
2 100 Largest Commercial Banking Co.      76    1692    4.3
3  50 Largest Diversified Financial Co.   36     617    5.5
4  50 Largest Life Insurance Firms        55     652    7.8 
5  50 Largest Retailers                   45     540    7.7
6  50 Largest Savings Institutions        32     524    5.8   
7  50 Largest Transportation Co.          19     490    3.7
8  50 Largest Utilities                   54     607    8.2
-------------------------------------------------------------
   TOTAL                                 367    6201    5.6%

Source: Mary Ann Von Gilnow and Anna Krzyczkowska,
"The Fortune 500: A Cast of Thousands," 1988.  Data updated
by Von Gilnow, 1990.

HOW YOUR INDUSTRY COMPARES DIRECTORS OFFICERS WOMEN MEN %WOMEN WOMEN MEN %WOMEN ------------------------------------------------------------ AEROSPACE 8 213 3.6 7 272 2.5 APPAREL 6 84 6.7 10 89 10.1 BEVERAGES 6 93 6.1 6 110 5.2 BUILDING MAT. 4 164 2.4 0 174 0.0 CHEMICALS 17 609 2.7 14 629 2.2 COMPUTERS 12 221 5.2 15 461 3.2 ELECTRONICS 23 324 5.0 7 564 1.2 FOOD 26 522 4.7 12 698 1.7 FOREST PROD. 19 379 4.8 9 392 2.2 FURNITURE 6 76 7.3 3 104 2.8 INDUST EQUIP 9 329 2.7 7 372 1.9 JEWELRY 1 6 14.3 0 19 0.0 METAL PRODUCTS 4 185 2.1 8 200 3.9 METALS 6 267 2.2 8 269 2.9 MINING/OIL 1 95 1.0 6 96 5.9 MOTOR VEHICLES 7 242 2.8 3 256 1.2 PETRO REFINING 11 364 2.9 8 383 2.1 PHARMACEUTICAL 18 203 8.1 11 270 3.9 PUBLISHING 18 235 7.1 13 244 5.1 RUBBER 9 117 7.1 2 125 1.6 SCIENTIFIC 14 194 6.7 11 281 3.8 COSMETICS 17 84 16.8 8 185 4.2 TEXTILES 4 103 3.7 4 127 3.1 TOBACCO 5 86 5.5 0 84 0.0 TOYS 3 28 9.7 2 32 5.9 TRANSP EQUIP 0 51 0.0 1 66 1.5 ------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL 254 5384 4.50% 175 6502 2.60%

Source: Mary Ann Von Gilnow and Anna Krzyczkowska, "The Fortune 500: A Cast of Thousands," 1988. Data updated by Von Gilnow, 1990.

HOW YOUR COMPANY COMPARES

                 DIRECTORS                     OFFICERS
              WOMEN MEN %WOMEN             WOMEN MEN %WOMEN
-----------------------------------------------------------
1  GEN MOTORS   1    15   6.3                0    9    0.0
2  FORD MOTOR   1    19   5.0                0   10    0.0
3  EXXON        1    13   7.1                0   17    0.0
4  IBM          0    16   0.0                3   51    5.6
5  GEN. ELECTR. 2    16  11.1                0    6    0.0
6  MOBIL        3    15  16.7                1  112    7.7
7  CHRYSLER     3    16  15.8                0   13    0.0
8  TEXACO       0    15   0.0                0   19    0.0
9  DUPONT       1    20   4.8                0   29    0.0
10 PHILLIP MOR. 4    17  19.1                0   18    0.0
11 CHEVRON      0    12   0.0                0   20    0.0
12 AMOCO        1    14   6.7                0    7    0.0
13 SHELL OIL    0    10   0.0                0   23    0.0
14 OCCIDENTAL   1    16   5.9                0   31    0.0
15 PROCT GAM    1    15   6.3                2   59    3.3
16 UNITED TECH. 2     9  18.2                0    6    0.0
17 ATL.RICH     1    13   7.1                0   14    0.0
18 KODAK        3    12  20.0                1    8   11.1
19 BOEING       1    13   0.0                0   22    0.0
20 RJR NABISCO  1    13   7.1                0   28    0.0
21 DOW CHEMICAL 1    17   5.6                1   12    7.7
22 XEROX        1    13   7.1                1   33    2.9
23 USX          0    15   0.0                0    9    0.0
24 TENNECO      0    11   0.0                0   18    0.0
25 MCD. DOUG.   0    10   0.0                0   17    0.0
26 PEPSICO      1    12   7.7                0   12    0.0
27 WESTINGHOUSE 1    11   8.3                0   14    0.0
28 ROCKWELL     1    13   7.1                0   21    0.0
29 ALLIED-SIG   1    14   6.7                1   18    5.3
30 DIGITAL EQ.  1     7  12.5                2   37    5.1
31 PHILLIPS PET 0    13   0.0                0   23    0.0
32 GOODYEAR     1    13   7.1                0   26    0.0
33 LOCKHEED     0    13   0.0                0   43    0.0
34 3M           1    13   7.1                0   13    0.0
35 CATEPILLAR   0    12   0.0                0   25    0.0
36 SARA LEE     2    16  11.1                2   26    7.1
37 WEYERHAEUSER 0    11   0.0                0    6    0.0
38 UNISYS       1    13   7.1                1   34    2.9
39 HEWL-PACK    1    14   6.7                1   34    2.9
40 ALCOA        1    10   9.1                0   11    0.0
41 GENERAL DYN  0    14   0.0                0    8    0.0
42 INT PAPER    1    13   7.1                1    5   16.7
43 GEORGLA-PAC  1    12   7.7                1    6   14.3
44 CONAGRA      0    10   0.0                1   21    4.6
45 J&J          1    15   6.3                0    9    0.0
46 ANH-BUSCH    2    13  13.3                0   14    0.0
47 UNOCAL       1    14   6.7                1   19    5.0
48 SUN          1    13   7.1                0   14    0.0
49 COCA-COLA    1    13   7.1                1   13    7.1
50 UNION CARB   1    11   8.3                0   12    0.0
----------------------------------------------------------
  TOTAL        49   668   6.8%              21  955    2.2%


Source: Mary Ann Von Gilnow and Anna Krzyczkowska,
"The Fortune 500: A Cast of Thousands," 1988.  Data updated
by Von Gilnow, 1990.

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