"Historically, corporate boardrooms have been mostly white and mostly male. Yet the trend started shifting in the 1970s, in part due to gains from the civil rights era and pro-diversity efforts by activists and business groups. I have been monitoring the degree of diversity in the corporate and political worlds for decades. One useful diversity metric is the percentage of boardroom members who are not white men."
"And for the third year in a row, white men did not hold the majority of seats on the boards of America's 50 largest corporations, according to my analysis of the most recent Fortune 500 list. However, the share of white men nonetheless ticked up after a two-year decline."
"Whereas about a decade ago, white men held two-thirds of the seats on the top 50 Fortune boards, in 2023, for the first time, they held fewer than 50%. In 2024, that number dropped to 48.4%, but this year it climbed back to 49.7%. Since white men make up about 31% of the U.S. population, they still have been very much overrepresented in all three years."
Corporate boardrooms were historically predominantly white and male, with a shift beginning in the 1970s linked to civil rights gains and pro-diversity efforts. A useful metric for board diversity is the percentage of members who are not white men. For the third consecutive year, white men did not hold a majority of seats among the boards of America's 50 largest corporations, though their share rose slightly after a two-year decline. About a decade ago white men held roughly two-thirds of top-50 board seats; in 2025 they held about 49.7% while comprising roughly 31% of the U.S. population. The increase in white men’s share from 2024 to 2025 coincided with a small decline in seats held by white women.
Read at Fast Company
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