suggests that its gender imbalance might impact the companies that the firms invest in. The report reveals companies that receive private equity backing see a significant drop in female leadership.
In the past year, private equity exited from 1424 companies that were included in the study. As an example of the dramatic gender imbalance, only 2% of these company’s chairs were women. “Given the chair’s critical role in setting strategic direction and overseeing the entire board’s function, this is particularly concerning,” the report’s authors write.
According to the McKinsey report, investment committees within private equity firms are where investment decisions happen. “The discussions and decisions made in regular IC meetings form the intellectual backbone of the PE firms. Therefore, who consistently sits at the IC table matters,” the report authors write. And who sits at the IC table? Men. Women represent only 12% of investment committee members.