Women in the Boardroom: Progress, Pushback and Why It Still Matters

When I wrote about women in the boardroom in March 2024, the picture was disappointing. At that point, less than a third of directors were women and women of colour were almost entirely absent from the boardroom.

Two and a half years later, the story is more complicated. It is not simple progress and it is not simple decline. Women hold more board seats than ever before. But the flow of women into new board roles is slowing and in the US it is falling sharply. The commitments that drove progress over the last decade are being quietly scaled back and, in some places, openly reversed.

So this feels like a good moment to look again at where we are, what has changed and why it still matters.

Where Things Stand Now

In the US: a plateau that could become a retreat

The most recent Spencer Stuart U.S. Board Index shows that women hold 34% of S&P 500 board seats, slightly down from 35% in 2025. That is still a 62% increase on a decade ago and the average board now has four women directors, compared with two in 2016.

The headline number hides a less encouraging picture in new appointments. In Spencer Stuart’s 2026 report, women accounted for just 29% of new independent director appointments to S&P 500 boards, down from 38% in 2025. Looking more broadly, 40% of all new appointments met at least one of the report’s diversity criteria—identifying as a woman, belonging to an under-represented racial or ethnic group, or identifying as LGBTQ+—down from 46%. The women counted in the first figure are included in this broader total.

The longer trend is starker. Diverse appointments peaked at 72% in 2021 and 2022. This year's figure is the lowest since 2014. Last year's report had already shown women's share of new directors falling every year since 2020.

Board seats change slowly, so overall representation lags behind new appointments. If fewer women join boards today, the overall number will fall in the years ahead. The plateau we can see now may well turn into a decline.

In the UK: strong board numbers, stalled at the top

The UK is in a better position, but it is not immune. The latest FTSE Women Leaders Review shows women hold 43% of FTSE 350 board seats, up from 38% in 2021 and about 10% in 2011. Nearly 90% of FTSE 350 companies are at or close to the 40% target.

Even so, the Chartered Governance Institute says momentum has "stalled". The figure has not moved from the previous year. Women hold only 17% of chair roles and 8% of CEO roles. The appointment rate for women dropped from 46% in 2024 to 42% in 2025.

The UK Spencer Stuart Board Index shows the same pattern. Women make up 44% of directors and 54% of non-executive directors in the top 150 companies. Only three of the new chairs appointed that year were women and none of the nine new CEOs.

Put simply, women are well represented in non-executive roles in the UK. They are still largely missing from the roles that hold the most power.

What Has Changed Since 2024

The political and legal backlash against DEI

The biggest change since my original article is the political climate. In the US, the federal campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion has reached the boardroom. Recent reporting suggests appointments of women and ethnic minorities to S&P 500 boards have hit a ten-year low. Nasdaq's board diversity disclosure rule was also struck down by a US appeals court in late 2024, which removed one of the main external pressures on listed companies.

Boards' own intentions have changed too. PwC's annual director survey found that only 9% of directors planned to add gender diversity to their boards, down from 21% the year before. Only 6% planned to add racial diversity.

The return of the "CEO candidate"

A quieter but equally important driver is who boards are now choosing to recruit. Current and former CEOs made up 37% of new directors this year, the highest share in 15 years. Because the CEO pipeline is still mostly male, choosing CEOs first reduces the number of women joining boards.

This explains why the problem is deeper than the boardroom. When only 8% of FTSE 350 CEOs are women, any board that treats CEO experience as the gold standard will repeat the imbalance. The most recent index also notes that new women directors are more likely than men to bring functional expertise. That kind of capability is easily overlooked when "CEO" becomes shorthand for "board-ready".

Fewer seats to go round

There are also simply fewer vacancies. Spencer Stuart's data showed S&P 500 boards appointing their lowest number of new directors since 2016 and turnover falling again this year to 0.7 new directors per board. When boards refresh less often, each appointment counts for more and a cautious recruiting mindset does more damage.

Women of colour: still the sharpest gap

In 2024 I highlighted the near-absence of women of colour on boards. That remains the most pressing gap. In the UK, the share of ethnically diverse new board appointees has fallen from 23% to 20%, while only 13% of board members are from ethnic minorities. Women of colour face both of these gaps at once. When diversity efforts weaken, the people who were least represented to begin with usually lose the most.

Scrutiny and visibility

There is also a human side that the numbers don't capture. A recent FTSE chief executive observed that women in top roles face more scrutiny than men. Many women I work with will recognise this. Being one of only a few women at the top means your performance is noticed more and judged more harshly, and your mistakes are remembered for longer.

Why It Still Matters

Equity matters for its own sake. But the business case I made in 2024 is still strong and arguably stronger now.

Research from the Impact Group suggests gender-balanced boards are almost 20% more likely to improve business outcomes. The Women's Leadership Foundation points to several specific ways women strengthen boards:

• Better board performance and communication. Women help shape how boards talk, challenge and listen, which improves how the whole board works.
• Strategy, responsibility and oversight. Women are described as "adept at strategy development, improving corporate social responsibility and monitoring management". These are the core duties of a board.
• Understanding customers. Women make or influence a large share of consumer buying decisions. Female directors bring insight into those needs, which leads to better strategic decisions.
• Collaboration and cohesion. A mix of perspectives encourages collaboration and leads to more considered decisions and less groupthink.
• Adaptability. Women's ability to adapt to change helps boards respond to shifting markets with agility and resilience.

Consider the current environment: geopolitical volatility, AI disruption, climate risk, changing workforces and growing stakeholder scrutiny. These are exactly the conditions where narrow, similar thinking at the top is most dangerous. Pulling back on diversity now means reducing the range of perspectives just when boards need it most.

From Representation to Influence

Recent analysis suggests attention is shifting "from representation to retention and influence". I think that is the right shift, as long as it doesn't become an excuse to stop working on representation.

A seat at the table is not the same as power at the table. The next phase needs to focus on:

1. Building the chair and CEO pipeline. Recent research from the FTSE Women Leaders Review and the University of Glasgow on pathways to the chair role is a useful start. Women need sponsorship, stretch roles and P&L experience well before a board seat comes up.

2. Widening what counts as "board-ready". Functional, operational, technology, people and risk expertise are all valuable on a board. The idea that only CEOs are suitable for board roles needs to be challenged.

3. Making inclusion part of how the board works. Treat the effectiveness of meetings, how challenge happens and who gets heard as governance issues, not as soft extras.

4. Investing in women's leadership development now. Coaching, peer networks and deliberate development for women in senior executive roles make the board pipeline stronger in five years' time.

5. Keeping the data visible. Targets and transparency drove UK progress. Where formal requirements are being removed, voluntary disclosure and investor pressure matter more.

In Conclusion

Since 2024, women's place in the boardroom has become more established in some ways and more fragile in others. The UK has reached and held the 40% target and US boards are more balanced than ever overall. But fewer women are being appointed, momentum has stalled at chair and CEO level and the political climate has made it easier for organisations to quietly step back.

Bringing more women onto boards has never just been about hitting a number. It is about getting the best from an organisation: better decisions, stronger oversight, a clearer understanding of customers and more resilience in uncertain times. The companies that keep that commitment while others step back will be the ones that do well over the next decade.

The question for every board, chair and nominations committee is simple: are you building the boardroom your organisation will need, or the one you have always had?

About Belonging Pioneers

At Belonging Pioneers, we work with boards, chairs and executive teams who want to hold their nerve on inclusion while others step back. If you want an honest view of how inclusive your board really is, or a stronger pipeline of women and under- represented leaders ready for chair, CEO and board roles, we can help you move from representation to influence.

- Belonging Culture Assessment: an independent review of how inclusive and effective your board is, and what to do next.

- Inclusive Leader Development Programme: a modular programme that builds your senior pipeline now, so it is board-ready in five years’ time.

Book a 30-minute Clarity Call to explore where your board stands today and the practical steps to build the boardroom your organisation will need tomorrow.