The past year has seen very little progress in representation of women among leadership of local publicly owned companies, according to a Forum of Executive Women report released on Tuesday. The release was marked by a breakfast at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.Women’s share of leadership and top-earning roles at Philadelphia-area public companies remained mostly stagnant in the past year, and parity at the top ranks remains far off.
Despite the slim progress last year, women have made gains in workplace leadership roles in the Philadelphia region in the last 10 years, Pierce noted. The total number of women on boards has more than doubled, and fewer companies have no women executives at all. This is one area where change is clear over the past decade — in 2013, 35 of Philadelphia’s top public companies had no women on their boards.
In the report, Marianne Fray, CEO of Maternity Care Coalition, notes the importance of affordable child care, comprehensive maternity benefits, and paid family leave in achieving parity.