The Utah Women and Leadership Project (UWLP) at Utah State University released a study on the status of women leaders in business in Utah in 2014 and released an update in 2018 to see if progress had been made. Unfortunately, over those four years, the percentages decreased in most areas. Now, six years later, UWLP is offering another update.
“Measuring progress is important so that we can recognize what is happening and work toward positive change,” said USU UWLP Director John said Susan Madsen, Karen Hite Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership at the M. Huntsman Graduate School. Business, report writer.
The 2024 report is based on information from Utah's business listings obtained from the Utah Department of Labor Services' FirmFind, an online directory of more than 80,000 businesses in Utah. The researchers extracted information on companies with 100 or more employees, resulting in an initial population of 2,032 companies.
Of the 710 companies that reported having a CEO, 68 (9.6%) currently have a woman in that role. In 2018, 4.7% of Utah CEOs were women, an increase of 4.9% over the past six years.
Across all leadership categories surveyed (CEO, president, top manager), 253 out of 1,239 (20.4%) top leadership roles were held by women, compared to 6.4% in 2018. Importantly, there were far more general managers than CEOs or presidents in this year's dataset, compared to 11.6% in 2014. Still, overall, over the past six years, the percentage of women in top leadership roles at Utah businesses with 100 or more employees has steadily increased. However, Utah still has significant work ahead to advance women into these leadership roles.
Top industries for female CEOs include education services (28.6%), health care and social assistance (24.4%), and accommodation and food services (20.7%). Industries with the fewest female CEOs include real estate, rental and leasing (0%), construction (1.1%), finance and insurance (2.4%), and transportation and warehousing (4.5%).
Regarding corporate boards, a recent study showed that 29 out of 239 boards (12.1%) are chaired by women, up from 7% in 2018. It was also shown that boards with female chairs are more likely to have female directors and CEOs.
“While some business leaders continue to say they have difficulty finding qualified women to serve in top leadership positions and corporate boards, the low representation of women is not due to a lack of qualified women. Some argue it has little to do with women's inability to stand out or network as effectively as men – a good old boys' club, Madsen said. said. “In any case, as the global business environment continues to become increasingly competitive and turbulent, it is well worth the time and effort for incumbent CEOs and board chairs to create a diverse leadership team.”
To increase the number of women in corporate leadership positions, the report recommends:
Create a pipeline of women leaders by providing opportunities for coaching, mentoring, training, and stretching through new assignments. Educating and encouraging top corporate leaders to be change agents and allies to men by promoting women to boards of directors and to the highest leadership positions in companies. We consider at least two female candidates for each director nomination and ensure that there is at least one female on the company's board of directors. Expand your pool of potential board members by looking beyond the current CEO to other board-level candidates. Investigate your company's practices to change how you hire. Promote and retain female leaders in executive positions and boards of directors.
“We hope the data and insights shared in this brief will spark discussion and help companies make necessary structural changes to their management teams and boards of directors,” Madsen said. “This will further enhance the value of Utah organizations and create opportunities and pathways for success for more Utah employees and businesses.”
Additional report authors are Shirlayne Quayle, founder of PowerLane Podcast and UWLP researcher; and UWLP researcher Robin Blackburn.
Click here to read the full report.
