The boardroom is one of the most powerful places for decision-makers. Those that make the boardroom of the largest corporations in the world are responsible for messaging that could be influencing our everyday life. But what is the ratio of men to women in the boardrooms?
To find out how well-represented women are in the boardroom, we analysed the board of directors for 15 of the world’s largest corporations across technology, entertainment and e-commerce.
Results show that just 34% of all 163 board members in the study are women.
Gender in the technology boardroom
In the technology sector, one in three representatives on the board of directors are women– the second-best of the three categories. However, this sector also includes two of the least diverse companies in the study– Zoom’s board sat just 20% of women at the table and Tesla sat 22%.
Here is the ratio of women to men on the board of directors for five big technology companies, listed from the lowest to the highest percentage of women featured.
* Full names and job roles can be found in the sources and methodology section
Gender in the entertainment boardroom
The entertainment sector has the lowest number of women on their boards of directors in the study, with just 31% of board members being female. That means 69% of the major decision-makers when it comes to the television you watch and the music you listen to are men!
* Full names and job roles can be found in the sources and methodology section
Gender in the e-commerce boardroom
E-commerce has the most women represented on the board of directors out of all three categories, with a total of 39% being women. Amazon is the top company for gender diversity in this category with 45% women, followed by Inditex, the owner of Zara, Berskha, Stradivarius and more, at 40%.
* Full names and job roles can be found in the sources and methodology section
Sources and Methodology
Full boards names and job roles
Zoom, from left to right: Kimberly L. Hammonds (Independent Board Member), Janet Napolitano (Independent Board Member), Bart Swanson (Independent Board Member), Jonathan Chadwick (Independent Board Member), Peter Gassner (Independent Board Member), Eric S. Yuan (CEO & Founder), Carl Eschenbach (Independent Board Member), Santi Subotovsky (Independent Board Member), Dan Scheinman (Independent Board Member), Lieut. Gen. H.R. McMaster (Independent Board Member)
Tesla, from left to right: Robyn M. Denholm (Independent Director, Chairman of the Board, Chair of the Audit Committee and Chair of the Disclosure Controls Committee), Kathleen Wilson-Thompson (Independent Director, Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Disclosure Controls Committee), James Murdoch (Independent Director, Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee, the Audit Committee, and the Disclosure Controls Committee), Antonio J. Gracias (Independent Director, Member of the Audit Committee), Larry Ellison (Independent Director), Elon Musk (CEO), Hiro Mizuno (Independent Director and Member of the Audit Committee), Ira Ehrenpreis (Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and Chair of the Compensation Committee), Kimbal Musk (Independent Director)
Apple, from left to right: Andrea Jung (Independent Board Member), Monica Lozano (Independent Board Member), Susan L. Wagner (Independent Board Member), Tim Cook (CEO), Arthur D. Veinson, Ph,D. (Chairman of the Board), James A. Bell (Independent Board Member), Albert Gore Jr. (Independent Board Member), Ronald D. Sugar, Ph.D. (Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee)
Microsoft, from left to right: Sandra E. Peterson (Independent Director), Penny Pritzker (Independent Director), Teri List-Stoll (Independent Director), Padmasree Warrior (Independent Director), Emma Walmsley (Independent Director), John W. Stanton (Independent Director), Arne Sorenson (Independent Director), Satya Nadella (CEO), Charles W. Scharf (Independent Director), Reid Hoffman (Independent Director), Hugh Johnston (Independent Director), John W. THompson (Board Chair)
Facebook, from left to right: Peggy Alford (Member of the Audit & Risk Oversight Committee and the Privacy Committee), Nancy Killefer (Chair of the Privacy Committee), Sheryl Sandberg (COO), Tracey T. Travis (Chair of the Audit & Risk Oversight Committee), Mark Zuckerberg (Founder, Chairman and CEO), Robert M. Kimmitt (Member of the Privacy Committee), Marc L. Andreessen (Member of the Audit & Risk Oversight Committee and the Compensation, Nominating & Governance Committee), Peter A. Thiel (Chair of the Compensation, Nominating & Governance Committee), Andrew W. Houston (Member of the Compensation, Nominating & Governance Committee)
Netflix, from left to right: Ann Mather (Chair of the Audit), Anne Sweeney (Member of the Compensation), Leslie Kilgore (Member of the Audit), Richard Barton (Independent Board Member), Jay Hoag (Lead Director, Chair of the Nominating & Governance and Member of the Compensation), Reed Hastings (Co-CEO and Co-Founder), Rodolphe Belmer (Member of the Compensation), Mathias Döpfner (Independent Board Member), Brad Smith (Member of the Nominating & Governance), Strive Masiyiwa (Independent Board Member), Timothy Haley (Chair of the Compensation), Ted Sarandos (Co-CEO and CCO)
Spotify, from left to right: Heidi O’neill (Director), Cristina Stenbeck (Director), Padmasree Warrior (Director), Shishir Mehrotra (Director), Barry Mccarthy (Director), Martin Lorentzon (Co-Founder and Director), Woody Marshall (Lead Independent Director), Thomas Staggs (Director), Ted Sarandos (Director), Daniel Ek (Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors)
Lionsgate, from left to right: Yvette Ostolaza (Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Susan Mccaw (Member of the Audit & Risk Committee and the Compensation Committee), Mignon Clyburn (Director and member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Emily Fine (Member of the Audit & Risk Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Mark H. Rachesky, M.d. (Chairman of the Board, the Co-Chair of the Strategic Advisory Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee), Michael T. Fries (Member of the Compensation Committee and the Strategic Advisory Committee), Michael Burns (Vice-Chairman), Jon Feltheimer (CEO), Hardwick Simmons (Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee and a member of the Strategic Advisory Committee), Gordon Crawford (Co-Chair of the Strategic Advisory Committee), David M. Zaslav (Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Daryl Simm (Chair of the Compensation Committee), Daniel Sanchez (Member of the Audit & Risk Committee)
Playstation (Sony), from left to right: Keiko Kishigami (Member of Audit Committee), Wendy Becker (Chair of Compensation Committee), Toshiko Oka (Member of Audit Committee), Sakie Akiyama (Member of Compensation Committee), Hiroki Totoki (Executive Deputy President and CFO), Kazuo Matsunaga (Vice Chairman of the Board and Chair of Audit Committee), Adam Crozier (Member of Nominating Committee), Yoshihiko Hatanaka (Member of Nominating Committee), Kenichiro Yoshida (CEO and Member of Nominating Committee), Tim Schaaff (Independent Board Member), Shuzo Sumi (Chairman of the Board and Chair of Nominating Committee), Joseph A. Kraft Jr (Member of Compensation Committee)
Disney, from left to right: Susan E. Arnold (Director), Safra A. Catz (Director), Mary T. Barra (Director), Maria Elena Lagomasino (Director), Michael Froman (Director), Bob Chapek (CEO), Robert A. Iger (Executive Chairman And Chairman Of The Board), Mark G. Parker (Director), Francis A. Desouza (Director), Derica W. Rice (Director)
Nike, from left to right: Thasunda B. Duckett (Member of the Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability & Governance Committee), Cathleen Benko (Member of the Compensation Committee), Michelle A. Peluso (Chair of the Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability & Governance Committee), Elizabeth J. Comstock (Member of the Compensation Committee), John W. Rogers, Jr. (Member of the Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability & Governance Committee), John J. Donahoe (President and CEO), Peter B. Henry (Member of the Audit & Finance Committee), Mark G. Parker (Chairman of the Board of Directors), Tim Cook (Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Compensation Committee), Philip H. Knight (Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors), Travis A. Knight (Member of the Executive Committee), Alan B. Graf, Jr. (Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee), John G. Connors (Member of the Audit & Finance Committee)
eBay, from left to right: Bonnie S. Hammer (Independent Board Member), Adriane M. Brown (Independent Board Member), Diana Farrell (Independent Board Member), Kathleen Mitic (Chair of Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee), E. Carol Hayles (Independent Board Member), Perry M. Traquina (Chair of Audit Committee), Matt Murphy (Independent Board Member), Mohak Shroff (Independent Board Member), Jamie Iannone (Independent Board Member), Logan D. Green (Independent Board Member), Anthony J. Bates (Independent Board Member), Robert H. Swan (Chair of Risk Committee), Paul S. Pressler (Chair of the Board)
Asos, from left to right: Karen Geary (Chair Of The Remuneration Committee), Anna Suchopar (General Counsel & Company Secretary), Mai Fyfield (Independent Non-Executive Director), Eugenia Ulasewicz (Independent Non-Executive Director), Adam Crozier (Chairman), Mat Dunn (CFO), Nick Beighton (CEO), Nick Robertson (Founder And Non-executive Director), Luke Jensen (Independent Non-Executive Director), Ian Dyson (Chair Of The Audit Committee)
Inditex, from left to right: Pilar López Álvarez (Ordinary member), Denise Patricia Kingsmill (Ordinary member), Flora Pérez Marcote (Ordinary member), Anne Lange (Ordinary member), Amancio Ortega Gaona (Founder of Inditex and Member of the Board), José Luis Durán Schulz (Ordinary member), Emilio Saracho Rodríguez de Torres( Ordinary member), Rodrigo Echenique Gordillo (Ordinary member), Pablo Isla (Executive Chairman), José Arnau Sierra (Deputy Chairman), Carlos Crespo González (CEO)
Amazon, from left to right: Patricia Q. Stonesifer (Member of the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Rosalind G. Brewer (Director), Judith A. McGrath (Chair of the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee), Jamie S. Gorelick (Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Indra K. Nooyi (Member of the Audit Committee), Jeff Bezos (President, CEO and Chairman of the Board), Keith B. Alexander (Member of the Audit Committee), Daniel P. Huttenlocher (Member of the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee), Jonathan J. Rubinstein (Lead Director), Thomas O. Ryder (Chair of the Audit Committee)
Methodology:
All data featured in this research has been collected from each company’s website. The people featured in the photos are all on the board of directors for that company.
Percentages have been calculating manually, looking at the ratio of women to men on the board of directors for that specific company.
Only people listed under the “board of directors” for each company has been included in the research.
In each data card, the companies have been listed from the lowest to the highest percentage of women on the board.
All data was correct as of 5 February 2021.
| Rank | Company | Category | Total number of directors | Female directors | % that are women | Total % that are women in this category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon | E-commerce | 11 | 5 | 45 | 39 |
| 2 | Tech | 9 | 4 | 44 | 33 | |
| 3 | Microsoft | Tech | 12 | 5 | 42 | 33 |
| 4 | Disney | Entertainment | 10 | 4 | 40 | 31 |
| 5 | Asos | E-commerce | 10 | 4 | 40 | 39 |
| 6 | eBay | E-commerce | 13 | 5 | 38 | 39 |
| 7 | Apple | Tech | 8 | 3 | 38 | 33 |
| 8 | Inditex | E-commerce | 11 | 4 | 36 | 39 |
| 9 | Playstation (Sony) | Entertainment | 12 | 4 | 33 | 31 |
| 10 | Lionsgate | Entertainment | 13 | 4 | 31 | 31 |
| 11 | Nike | E-commerce | 13 | 4 | 31 | 39 |
| 12 | Spotify | Entertainment | 10 | 3 | 30 | 31 |
| 13 | Netflix | Entertainment | 12 | 3 | 25 | 31 |
| 14 | Tesla | Tech | 9 | 2 | 22 | 33 |
| 15 | Zoom | Tech | 10 | 2 | 20 | 33 |
| TOTAL | 163 | 56 | 34 |
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