The Journey of Women Up The Corporate Ladder: A Study Of The Representation of Women In Top Corporate Positions In New York State

In order for women to be equally represented on corporate boards, they must first be represented equally among officers and other managerial occupations within companies. The low percentage of women on the board of directors is a reflection of the low number of women in the highest positions within New York State corporations. This paper explores the factors that influence whether or not there is female representation in the top levels of New York State publicly traded corporations as well as the level of representation of women in these corporations. It appears that in 1999, women are still under-represented in the highest positions in business in New York State. Only 11.6 percent of corporate officers and a mere 6.3 percent of directors in this sample are female. However, the analysis suggests that women may be promoted at higher rates than men in some male-dominated industries such as high-tech industries, while it appears that women are not represented at higher rates in top corporate offices among corporations in female-dominated industries, including retail and services. Region and industry do not seem to play a large role in the representation of women. Finally, the research suggests that there is a positive relationship between the total number of officers within a corporation and the percentage of female officers. The same relationship holds with the total number of directors and the percentage of female directors in New York State based corporations. This would indicate that, overall, the representation of women at lower positions within a firm influences their representation at higher levels.