EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
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The number of women executives at the highest levels of corporate Canada dropped from one year ago with a year-over-year decrease of 16 per cent. There are only 31 women in the top offices in Canada’s largest public companies, compared to 37 a year earlier. The numbers were calculated based on the Top 100 Publicly-traded Canadian Companies, ranked by revenue. This is the third consecutive year of the annual Rosenzweig Ranking.
Among the findings of the Annual Rosenzweig Report:
• 74 per cent of Canada’s biggest companies are run at the highest levels by men and men only; 94.2 per cent of the highest-paid executives are men; and
• 97 of the Top 100 Publicly-traded Companies have male Chief Executive Officers.
Since the launch of the Annual Rosenzweig Report in 2006, its numbers suggest that women at the top echelons of corporate Canada face a glass ceiling. Last year’s results, showing a 50-per-cent increase in the number of women executives between 2006 and 2007, provided some hope that the glass ceiling may be cracking. However, a decrease this year reinforces the belief that women in Canada are having a difficult time advancing to the highest ranks of the corporate world.
Given this decrease from last year, we wonder if there will be any significant change in the number of women holding key executive positions over the next 10 years. To achieve gender equality at the highest levels of corporate Canada, we believe a lot more must be done.
Gender diversity is good for business and good for corporate Canada. The more we know about and understand the barriers to the corporate advancement of women, the sooner we will eliminate the glass ceiling.