Women make up half of the workforce, yet they're still hugely underrepresented on corporate boards.
"There must be cohesiveness on the board to get the work moving forward," Carol Evans, CEO of the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), told us. "Women add their own perspectives, experience and knowledge to the board, which cannot be found any other way than by having gender diversity."
And having women on boards just makes good business sense. Research shows that companies perform better when they have more female executives.
To identify which companies most support women in leadership roles, NAFE asked for nominations from the public, which required applicants to answer more than 200 questions about female representation at their companies.
Of the 200 applications submitted, NAFE narrowed the list down to the top 50, which is featured in this month's issue of Working Mother.
Thanks to NAFE for also sharing the list with Business Insider.
23. IBM
Headquartered in Armonk, N.Y., IBM has a global workforce of 441,912 employees and 30 percent of them are women.
Percent of corporate executives who are women: 23 percent.
"Women comprise 18 percent of the general managers at this technology company, and many take part in a forward-thinking initiative that provides them with strategic assignments, helping them cultivate clients, strengthen their profit-and-loss capabilities and lead more effectively."
Source: NAFE
22. HSBC USA
Headquartered in New York, N.Y., HSBC USA has a workforce of 24,400 employees and 59 percent of them are women.
Percent of corporate executives who are women: 17 percent
"At HSBC USA, executives’ compensation is impacted by their ability to meet diversity and inclusion goals, which helps increase female representation at the highest levels. Leadership program, female executives are able to take advantage of mentoring, training and workshops, learning to overcome professional obstacles."
Source: NAFE
21. General Mills
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., General Mills has a workforce of 16,939 employees and 40 percent of them are women.
Percent of corporate executives who are women: 38 percent
"Ninety-six percent of female employees surveyed at General Mills said they would recommend the company as a good place to work."
Source: NAFE
See the rest of the story at Business Insider