UCD: California executive diversity 'a rarity'

Senior female executives are still a rarity in the US state of California, according to new research.

According to a study carried out at the University of California, Davis, which disclosed that female executives account for just 10.6 per cent of boardroom positions in the state's publicly-listed corporations.

In addition, the research found that 46 per cent of the businesses surveyed had no female directors, while 30 per cent had no female presence in their entire boardrooms.

Highlighting the presence of a glass ceiling in Californian boardrooms, the survey of 400 companies discovered that executive gender diversity had only improved marginally since 2005.

Steven Currall, dean of UCD'S Graduate School of Management, suggested that the findings of the fifth annual California Women Business Leaders study were "disappointing".

He told the Sacramento Bee: "There is only one woman for every nine men in the executive suites and boardrooms of these high-profile companies.

"Little has changed in the gender diversity of the upper echelons of decision makers."

Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development disclosed that women fill only 12.6 per cent of the director level positions in US financial corporations.