How Americans see the state of gender and leadership in business

Women now account for record shares of Fortune 500 chief executives and board members in the United States – 10.6% and 30.4%, respectively. Still, the share of women in top business leadership positions remains well below their share of the population.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to explore Americans’ views about the current state of gender and business leadership.

This analysis is based on a survey of 5,057 U.S. adults conducted July 17-23, 2023. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Address-based sampling ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

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A majority of Americans (55%) say there are too few women in top executive business positions, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. This is down somewhat from 59% who said this in 2018.

Among those who say there are too few women in top business positions, most (79%) say it would be ideal to have the same number of women and men in these roles. One-in-ten say having more women than men would be ideal. The same share (10%) say it would be ideal to have more women in these positions than there are now, but still not as many women as men.

Why aren’t there more women in top executive business positions?

Americans see many factors as major reasons why there aren’t more women in top executive business positions, such as:

• Women having to do more to prove themselves than men (58% say this is a major reason)
• Gender discrimination (50%)
• Family responsibilities (48%)
• Many businesses not being ready to hire women for these positions (43%)
• Sexual harassment creating an environment that makes it harder for women to succeed (40%)

Will there ever be as many women as men in top executive business positions?

Americans are divided on this question. Half say that, even as more women move into management roles, men will continue to hold more of these top positions. A similar share (48%) say that as more women move into management roles, it’s only a matter of time before there are as many women as men in top executive positions in business.

How views vary by gender

On nearly every question we asked, women and men express different views about the current state of gender and business leadership:

• 65% of women say there are too few women in top executive business positions, compared with 45% of men. Men are more likely than women to say the number of women in these positions is about right (46% vs. 29%).
• 55% of women say men will continue to hold more top executive business positions in the future. In turn, more than half of men (54%) say it’s only a matter of time before there are as many women as men in these roles.
• By large margins, women are more likely than men to see nearly all of the potential obstacles we asked about as major reasons why there aren’t more women in top business leadership positions.

How views vary by party

There are also differences in the views of Democrats and Democratic leaners when compared with Republicans and those who lean to the GOP. Among these differences:

• 76% of Democrats say there are too few women in top business leadership positions, compared with 33% of Republicans. A majority of Republicans (56%) say the number of women in these positions is about right.
• Most Democrats say women having to do more to prove themselves than men (73%) and gender discrimination (67%) are major reasons why there aren’t more women in top business leadership positions. This compares with 42% and 30% of Republicans, respectively.
• Among Republicans, family responsibilities are cited more often than any other factor as a major reason why there aren’t more women in top leadership positions in business. Similar shares of Republicans (48%) and Democrats (49%) see this as a major reason.

Gender differences among Republicans and Democrats

On many questions, there are differences by gender within each party. Republican and Democratic women are more likely than their male counterparts to say there are too few women in top business leadership positions and to point to certain factors as major obstacles for women.

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• Gender & Leadership