Female representation on both executive teams and boards of directors has seen an increase in recent times. In fact, 2021 saw female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list reach an all time record high.
However, despite the growth of females in these senior positions, only 7% of companies are currently gender balanced – so they still have some way to go. Looking at the world’s top social media companies, we have uncovered who is leading the way for female representation and which big names are falling behind.
Ultimately, when picturing a boardroom table you’d like to imagine an equal split between genders. Take a look at the graphic below to see the representation of females on the board of directors and executive teams, across the six biggest social media companies.
Despite men being in the majority of senior positions in a lot of industries, many high-ranking positions within social media are fulfilled by females. When looking solely at the percentage of females holding executive positions, YouTube holds the top spot with females making up over half (56%) of the executive team.
However, when considering both executive roles and the board of directors, Meta is leading for representation of females in these positions. Meta, which includes Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, leads the way for females in powerful positions. If the leading social media giant is run with the highest percentage of females in senior positions across the board, then is this the start of females taking more senior positions across other companies too?
One company that could benefit from following in Meta’s footsteps is WeChat. With females making up only 12.5% of both executive and board of director positions combined, WeChat has the smallest number of females in senior positions compared to all of the top social media companies.
With WBC calling for at least 30% of the Fortune, S&P 500 and Russell 3000 board seats to be female held by 2025, the future for female representation on the board is limitless.
