Global Survey of Women Directors on Corporate Boards

"Does Diversity on Corporate Boards Exist in the World's Top Companies?"

Advanced Copy of 2010 Report Available to Media on March 24, 2010

WASHINGTON, March 22, /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by Corporate Women Directors International:  

• Is board diversity stronger in American companies today?
• Is the global corporate community ready to accept new players and perspectives on their boards?  
• Will European government-mandated quotas for women directors work?
• Is diversity in board membership what post recession companies need?

Many of these questions will be answered when the 2010 CWDI Report: Women Board Directors of the Fortune 200 Global Companies is released on Friday, March 26th in Washington, DC.

The report is the result of research conducted by Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), whose author is Irene Natividad, President of the Global Summit of Women and Co-Chair of the CWDI.

In its third study of where women stand on the boards of the 200 largest companies in the world as ranked by Fortune in 2009, CWDI examines board composition to see if any changes have taken place post-economic crisis among these global corporate pacesetters.  The report ranks the Top Ten companies with the highest percentage of women directors, as well as spell out the 45 companies which still do not appoint women directors.  

Spanning 28 economies, the 200 companies give a birds-eye view of the progress made globally in naming women as board directors through comparisons with earlier CWDI reports in 2004 and 2007.  Which countries do better than others?  What are some countries doing to dramatically change these numbers?  Has the Fortune global listing changed in its own composition?

"The Great Recession has required many changes in corporate governance," said Irene Natividad, author of the report. "It has also spawned an outcry for new faces and new ideas on boards of companies anxious not to repeat the failed practices that led to this recession."

In addition to serving as Co-Chair of Corporate Women Directors International, Natividad is currently President of the Global Summit of Women, an annual international gathering of women leaders from around the world. She is President of her own public affairs firm, GlobeWomen and appears nationally on PBS' "To The Contrary," an all-women news analysis series in which she serves as a regular panelist.

About the Corporate Women Directors International

CWDI has conducted research on women directors globally for 12 years and has brought them together on issues of corporate governance in different parts of the world.  This effort emerged from the Global Summit of Women which brings women leaders from business and government for exchanges of best practices in advancing women's economic opportunities. Additional information can be obtained from the website www.globewomen.org or by emailing [email protected].    

SOURCE Corporate Women Directors International