Golden West Financial Corp. As of 1996, there were no women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. The absence of women CEOs in the Fortune 500 raises other questions about top corporate leadership. The majority of those, as the title implies, have one and only one. As more women gain representation on corporate boards, they also gain more influence in CEO selection. The traditional pool of CEO candidates came from the board room.
Most estimates put women's representation in senior management positions at five percent or less.
The majority of female executives are in fields such as human resources and communications, which are not on the traditional path toward corporate leadership. Women in corporate America do not have the operations experience from which so many companies determine the worth of an executive. Male executives are far less likely to consider corporate culture or attitudes as a reason for the low representation of women in senior management. Women in business lack the experience to gain the position, and lack the position to gain the experience. My mentor once said in a discussion about the glass ceiling that it made her depressed.