A record number of women joined the boards of directors of public companies in October with healthcare and tech companies leading the way, according to the Women Business Collaborative’s Women Joining Public Boards monthly report.
The report shows that in October 2020, public companies appointed women to fill 125 seats, or 40.9% of seats filled. The new board members include 44 women who identified as people of color.
The Women Business Collaborative (WBC), an alliance of more than 43 national women’s business organizations, partnered with corporate data firm Equilar on the report.
Of the 123 women, two joined the boards of more than one company.
Of the 44 identifying as women of color, 34 identified as African American. In January 2020, no women appointed to boards of public companies listed in the Russell 3000 index identified as women of color, WBC said.
More than one-fifth, 21%, of the women were appointed to boards of public companies in the healthcare sector, and 17.6% were appointed to board of public companies in the technology sector.
According to the Women on Boards 2020 Gender Equality index, women held 22.6% of board seats of Russell 3000 companies prior to October, and 23 were added in October.
