80% of companies yet to appoint a female CEO, research finds
IT, finance and industrial businesses accounted for 53% of the companies that had appointed a female CEO.
Four in five (80%) of FTSE 100 and S&P 100 companies have never appointed a female chief executive (CEO), research from Women in Work found.
The Women in Work Glass Ceiling Tracker 2026 reviewed female chief executive appointments among current members of the two indexes.
38 companies across both indexes had appointed a female CEO.
A total of 39 women had taken the role, with half of the appointments taking place during the past decade.
The report linked the rise to increased FTSE 100 CEO turnover after the pandemic and boards using succession cycles to appoint women.
IT, finance and industrial businesses accounted for 53% of the companies that had appointed a female CEO.
Mariella Frostrup, co-founder of Women in Work, said: “Our inaugural Glass Ceiling Tracker shines a light on what is holding back progress for women in the top job.
“The problem has very clearly never been a shortage of brilliant and capable women.
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