University of California Davis Study Examines the Gender Gap in the Executive Suite

A new survey by researchers at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis finds that women hold only 11.5 percent of highest-paid executive posts and board seats at California’s 400 largest public companies. The survey also found that women are not being promoted to the highest posts and when they do get promoted, they are not paid as much as their male peers.

Of the 400 firms surveyed, only two had equal numbers of men and women in top-level posts. Only 14 of the 400 firms had a woman serving as CEO. More than one quarter of the firms had no women executives and no women on their board of directors.

Ann Huff Stevens, dean of the Graduate School of Management, stated the reasons for the school’s effort to monitor the progress of women in the business world by saying, “We cannot grow impatient. Not yet. Careful and ongoing monitoring of firms’ and women’s progress can help sustain this momentum. Advocacy groups can provide women with the skills and connections they need to be prepared for leadership roles. Education on and communication of the facts about the status of women in corporate America are critical.”

The full study, UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders: A Census of Women Directors and Executive Officers, may be accessed here.

Below is a video of Amanda Kimbell, a research specialist at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and Dean Stevens discussing the study.