Take Action
As a Shareholder
As a Mutual Fund Investor
Understand the Ways in Which You Can Make a Difference
As a Shareholder
As a Mutual Fund Investor
Why Diversity at the Top is Important
Where are the women?
Shareholders: Leverage Your Power to Advance Women
You can take action as a shareholder to help increase the number of women serving on public company boards. ION shows you how.
The Picture
In 2007, women held only 14.8% of the board positions in the Fortune 500 companies in America. (Source: 2007 Catalyst Census of Women Board Directors of the Fortune 500)
Consider some facts from ten of the twelve regions represented by ION's member groups:
- The highest percentage of women directors on Fortune 500 boards was 20.5% (Massachusetts).
- The highest percentage of women directors in all companies researched by the ten ION members was 16.6% (New York Metropolitan Area).
- More than half the companies in two areas had no women directors and in only three areas did more than 70% of the companies have at least one woman director.
- In most areas, fewer than 10% of the companies had 25% or more women directors; the highest percentage was 16% (New York and Wisconsin).
- In 2007, Chicago was the only region in which more than one-third of the companies (38%) had a woman among their most highly compensated executives.
ION Wants to Change This Picture and YOU Can Help!
Put Your Mouth Where Your Money Is: Use your position as a shareholder to increase the number of women in leadership at the companies in which you invest your dollars. Studies show that increased diversity among corporate leaders is linked to improved governance practices and financial success. Simply stated, it is good for business.
The following pages tell you how you can make a difference by exercising your proxy and letting those in a position to change the composition of corporate leadership know that you care enough about this issue to take action.
- If you are ready to act, follow the steps listed here for individual shareholders or listed here for mutual fund owners.
- To gain a greater understanding of ways by which individual shareholders can make a difference and how to get the information you need about the companies in which you own stock, individual shareholder click here or mutual fund owner click here.
- Click here to acquaint yourself with the reasons why diversity at the top is important.