The pace of women joining Russell 3000 boards has slowed substantially, according to the latest Equilar Gender Diversity Index (GDI). The Q1 2024 GDI reveals that women now represent 29.7% of all Russell 3000 board seats, up modestly from 29.4% in Q4 2023. The slight uptick was not enough to move the GDI needle, which stayed put at the same point as the previous quarter at 0.59, where 1.0 represents gender parity.

The most surprising statistic from the Q1 analysis is that just 30.6% of new directors during the quarter were women, marking the lowest percentage since Q4 2017 when 28.6% of new board seats were appointed to women. It’s clear companies are not prioritizing gender diversity on boards at the same level as they once did, partially due to the focus on other forms of diversity, such as race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

Experts argue that the issue is not a lack of talent, as the pipeline of board-ready female candidates from a wide degree of backgrounds is robust. “Top boards look beyond their immediate networks to recruit experienced leaders with relevant skills and diverse life experiences, to build a culture of engagement with a spirit of constructive skepticism,” said Susan Angele, Senior Advisor at KPMG’s Board Leadership Center. “The pipeline of women aspiring to board service, including women from underrepresented groups, remains strong.”

Moreover, the data reveals that 56 boards (just under 2% of all boards) within the Russell 3000 still have no female representation as of Q1 2024. While this is down from 62 during the previous quarter, the figure underscores the uneven progress across different companies and industries in embracing gender diversity. On the other hand, 164 Russell 3000 boards have achieved gender parity, up from 147 a year ago, but down three from the previous quarter.

Examining Gender Diversity by State

California, a state historically at the forefront of diversity legislation, saw a notable shift in its ranking. Falling from third to fifth place in female board representation nationally, California’s decline could signal early impacts from the overturning of Senate Bill 826. The legislation, which mandated gender diversity on corporate boards, was overturned in 2022, potentially influencing corporate behaviors and priorities regarding board composition.

Across all U.S. states, Oregon—home to 12 Russell 3000 companies—has the highest representation of women directors at 37.6%. However, among states home to at least 30 companies, California still leads the way with representation at 34.2%. The full list of rankings for each state can be found in the table below.

Representation of Women on Boards by State

State	Company Count	% Women Directors	Ranking
OR	12	37.6%	1
ND	5	35.8%	2
DE	18	34.3%	3
SD	5	34.2%	4
CA	479	34.2%	5
ME	6	34.1%	6
HI	8	33.3%	7
IA	10	31.9%	8
RI	10	31.7%	9
MO	35	31.5%	10
NE	10	31.3%	11
IL	118	31.1%	12
WA	52	31.0%	13
CT	59	31.0%	14
MN	54	29.9%	15
MI	47	29.6%	16
WI	44	29.6%	17
GA	78	29.6%	18
AZ	43	29.5%	19
MA	180	29.5%	20
NH	8	29.4%	21
ID	9	29.4%	22
MT	4	29.3%	23
AL	12	29.2%	24
MD	51	29.1%	25
OH	89	29.0%	26
NM	3	28.9%	27
IN	36	28.8%	28
NY	258	28.8%	29
DC	12	28.7%	30
VA	85	28.0%	31
TN	47	27.8%	32
TX	274	27.7%	33
KS	10	27.6%	34
KY	15	27.2%	35
PA	118	27.1%	36
NC	59	27.0%	37
NJ	92	26.9%	38
CO	82	26.8%	39
FL	119	25.8%	40
SC	12	25.8%	41
AR	14	25.0%	42
AK	1	25.0%	43
UT	28	24.8%	44
MS	7	24.4%	45
NV	33	23.3%	46
OK	19	22.4%	47
VT	1	22.2%	48
WV	5	21.6%	49
LA	13	21.5%	50
WY	0	0.0%	51

 

Nevertheless, despite the challenges, opportunities remain for women to join public boards. “Joining a board is a matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right skills and credibility,” said Angele. “Women executives seeking their first board seat can increase their chances by: 1) Understanding the role of the board and how board members add value. Board education and serving on nonprofit boards that operate like businesses can help. 2) Defining their specific value in a relevant and memorable way (e.g., business leader with AI expertise vs. business leader) and 3) Amplifying their visibility as a potential board candidate (networking, networking, networking).”

The Q1 2024 Equilar Gender Diversity Index offers a nuanced view of the current state of gender diversity on corporate boards. While there are pockets of improvement, such as the overall increase in female board representation, the decline in new female director appointments and the uneven regional progress highlight the many challenges. Time will tell how the state of gender diversity on boards will play out.

About Equilar Gender Diversity Index

The Equilar GDI reflects changes on Russell 3000 boards on a quarterly basis as cited in 8-K filings to the SEC. Most indices that track information about board diversity do so annually or even less frequently, and typically with a smaller sample size, sometimes looking back more than a full year by the time the information is published. The Equilar GDI aims to capture the influence of the increasing calls for diversity from investors and other stakeholders in real time.

The Equilar GDI is powered by Equilar ExecAtlas, a database of 2.7 million board members and executives. ExecAtlas includes exclusive features that show how board members and companies are connected to each other, as well as the Equilar Diversity Network (EDN), a “registry of registries” of board-ready executives from leading ethnic and gender diversity partnerships, organizations, and publications.

Data and analysis was provided by Equilar Researchers Sinem Atalay, Ryan Cody, Jeremy Ho, Erin Le, Lucia Song, Jake Teng, Laura Wu and Joyce Zhu