Women slowly reaching corporate boardrooms in Philly

Women are very slowly gaining more spots on corporate boards in the Philadelphia region, but women’s advocate organizations are frustrated that progress isn’t happening more quickly.

 

The Forum of Executive Women’s annual “Woman on Board” report, released Tuesday, finds women hold 11 percent of board and executive positions in Philadelphia.

It represents barely an increase over 2010’s percentage.

But Autumn Bayles, president of the Forum of Executive Women, says she’s remaining optimistic.

“I’m disappointed that year and year the numbers don’t move more,” she said. “I’m happy to see that, over time, they’re moving in the right direction. We’d like … to see that acceleration increase.”

Bayles says the increase is more apparent when compared with older findings.

For example, from 2006 to last year, the proportion of female executives increased by 25 percent.