Authors: Andrew MacDougall, John M. Valley, Joanna Cameron, and Jessie Armour
Mid-year results for 2024: women in executive officer positions
This year the data shows that, on average, at least two members of companies’ executive teams are women. While the number of women executive officers continues to increase, progress remains very slow.
Number and percentage of women in executive officer positions
In 2024, 528 companies disclosed the number of women holding executive officer positions in their organizations. These companies reported a total of 1,094 executive officer positions held by women. On average, these companies reported 2.07 women executive officer positions per company, while the 541 companies disclosing the percentage of women in executive officer positions reported that an average of 21.2% of such positions were held by women. These numbers reflect a modest increase in both the average number of women executive officers (compared to 1.99 women executive officers last year) and in the average percentage of executive officer positions held by women (compared to 20.8% in 2023).
FIGURE 20.1
Overall average number of women executive officers
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 528 | 2021: 575 | 2022: 597 | 2023: 557 | 2024: 530
FIGURE 20.2
Overall average percentage of women executive officers
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 525 | 2021: 565 | 2022: 582 | 2023: 568 | 2024: 459
The number of executive teams without any women executive officers continues to decline. Companies with all-male executive teams declined to 26.7% of companies reporting (compared to 28.5% in mid-year 2023). On the other end of the spectrum, companies that reported having two or more women executive officers increased by 2.3 percentage points in 2024, to 46.8% (from 44.5% in mid-year 2023), while the percentage of companies that reported having only one woman executive officer declined only slightly.
FIGURE 21
2024 proportion of women executive officers
Total companies that disclosed: 528
FIGURE 22.1
Number of women executive officers (all companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 528| 2021: 575 | 2022: 597 | 2023: 557 | 2024: 530
FIGURE 22.2
Percentage of women executive officers (all companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 525 | 2021: 565 | 2022: 582 | 2023: 568 | 2024: 544
We noticed a decline in the number of S&P/TSX 60 companies reporting the number or percentage of their women executive officers compared to prior years. The change impacts the trends observed for the S&P/TSX 60 companies given the sensitivity of the smaller pool of issuers.
Among the 45 S&P/TSX 60 companies that reported on the number of women executive officers, the average number of women executive officers increased slightly year-over-year (3.64 at mid-year 2024 compared to 3.54 at mid-year 2023). Among those disclosing the average percentage of women executive officers, there was also a slight increase (0.7 percentage points) in the average percentage of executive officers who are women, to 27.5%.
FIGURE 23.1
Average number of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 49 | 2021: 50 | 2022: 48 | 2023: 48 | 2024: 44
FIGURE 23.2
Average percentage of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 49 | 2021: 50 | 2022: 47 | 2023: 51 | 2024: 47
The slight increase in the average number of women executive officer among the S&P/TSX 60 companies reflects the decrease in the number of companies reporting this measure and the tendency of companies with a relatively high proportion of women executive officers to add more. As summarized in Figure 24.1, there was a decrease in the number of S&P/TSX 60 companies reporting having only one woman executive officer. There was a significant increase in the number of S&P/TSX 60 companies that reported having two women (22.2%) or three women (31.1%), although the number of such companies reporting having at least four women executive officers declined (35.6% in 2024 compared to 39.6% in 2023). The results summarized in Figure 24.2 are consistent with the trends above and illustrate that the percentage of women executive officers at reporting companies is concentrated between 25 and 34%.
FIGURE 24.1
Number of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 49 | 2021: 50 | 2022: 48 | 2023: 48 | 2024: 46
FIGURE 24.2
Percentage of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 49 | 2021: 50 | 2022: 47 | 2023: 51 | 2024: 47
Women executive officers by industry
Broken down by industry, the highest average number of women executive officers continued to be found in the Utilities & Pipelines sector, followed by Communication & Media and Financial Services.
Utilities & Pipelines, Communication & Media, Real Estate and Consumer Products & Services were again this year’s top performers in terms of the average percentage of women executive officers. The Energy Services and Oil & Gas industries, on the other hand, had the lowest average percentage of women executive officers. Oil & Gas is also among the industries with the lowest average number of women executive officers, though that industry’s year-over-year trend appears to be exhibiting modest improvements.
As stated in previous years’ reports, it is difficult to make relative assessments of performance between most industries as there is a wide variation in the number of executive officers per company between industries and a wide variation in the number of reporting issuers within each industry, which impacts the relative sensitivity of each industry to change in averages. This could explain why, for example, in the Real Estate industry the average number of women executive officers is close to the overall average, but women represent a relatively high percentage of the executive officers.
FIGURE 25
Number of women executive officers by industry
Total companies that disclosed 2023: 557 | 2024: 530
FIGURE 26
Percentage of women executive officers by industry
Total companies that disclosed 2023: 568 | 2024: 544
Considering the representation of women in appointing executive officers
In 2024, 593 companies disclosed whether they take into account the representation of women in the identification and appointment of executive officers. Of those, 511 (86.2%) stated they do so. This number increased by 2.6 percentage points compared to mid-year 2023.
The proportion of S&P/TSX 60 companies reporting that they take gender into account when making executive appointments increased relative to 2023. So far this year, 46 (97.9%) of the companies that have provided this disclosure report doing so.
As with the adoption of policies relating to the consideration of women for director positions, the primary reason given for not specifically considering gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers relates to an expressed concern about compromising a focus on merit. This is consistent with the results in prior years. The three most common reasons for not considering gender in 2024 are listed in Figure 28. These three responses account for the vast majority of the reasons given for not considering gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers. A minority (13%) of companies that disclosed that they do not consider gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers did not provide a specific reason for failing to do so.
FIGURE 27
Consideration of gender in executive officer appointments
Total companies that disclosed: 2020: 559 | 2021: 624 | 2022: 634 | 2023: 603| 2024: 516
Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2020: 53 | 2021: 55 | 2022: 55 | 2023: 54| 2024: 44
FIGURE 28
Top three reasons for not considering gender in executive officer appointments
- Compromises a focus on merit
- Best candidate may not be selected
- Stage of development or nature of business
Targets for women executive officers
This year, of the 540 companies disclosing whether they have a target to women executive officers, 59 companies (10.9%) disclosed that they did. This is down slightly compared to 11.4% at mid-year 2023 and reflects the much lower level of interest demonstrated by companies in adopting targets for executive officers rather than at the board level.
The number of S&P/TSX 60 companies adopting targets for women in executive officer positions decreased, with eight of 44 companies (18.2%) disclosing whether they had adopted such a target indicating that they had done so. This decrease is a result of certain disclosed targets applying to a broader group than executive officers.
In our review, we note that some companies disclosed having adopted a target for women employees based on a group other than “executive officers” as defined under securities laws. These companies are generally not included in our totals because they are not responsive to the form requirement and apply to a broader group of officers and employees at the company. There are also a limited number of other companies that adopt targets for “designated groups” that may or may not include women.
Among those companies adopting executive officer targets, the most common target adopted was 30% women executive officers, followed by 20%.
FIGURE 29
Prevalence of targets for women executive officers (all companies)
Total companies that disclosed in 2022: 562
Total companies that disclosed in 2023: 559
Total companies that disclosed in 2024: 540
Consistent with the results above and from prior years, the top reason companies gave for not adopting targets regarding the appointment of women executive officers was a desire to not compromise a focus on merit. The top five reasons disclosed by companies that disclosed that they had not adopted a target for women executive officers are set out in Figure 30.
FIGURE 30
Top five reasons for not adopting a target for women executive officers
- Compromises a focus on merit
- Best candidate might not be selected
- Gender diversity is only one of many factors considered
- Small number of this position or low turnover
- Adequate systems are already in place
Chief executive officer and leadership roles
Only 4.5% of TSX-listed companies that provided full or partial diversity disclosure had a woman as their CEO. This figure represents a decrease from mid-year 2023 (5.2%) and appears to be driven primarily by turnover, by issuers in our data set from last year who had a woman CEO but were taken private and by certain issuers who had turnover in the role and had a woman retire from the role.
Similarly, only 3.2% of CEOs of TSX-listed corporations that provided full or partial diversity disclosure were members of visible minorities. This is the first year we have reported on this metric.
Voluntary disclosure of other diversity characteristics
A number of TSX-listed companies that are not CBCA corporations chose to provide voluntary supplemental disclosure regarding the representation of visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with a disability and those identifying as being a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community among their executive officers. We have highlighted the number of companies that chose to do so in Chapter 6 of our report.
