SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (News4Utah) – Utah companies are getting worse when it comes to staffing women in leadership positions. According to a study released Wednesday, the percentage of women CEOs and presidents in Utah companies has slightly decreased in the past four years.
Of the 343 Utah companies that reported having CEOs to researchers with ‘Utah Women & Leadership Project’, 16 (4.7%) currently have female chief executive officers, while 327 (95.3%)have males. In their 2014 report it was found that 4.8% of Utah CEOs were women, so there has been a slight decrease in the last four years.
Researchers speculate that the influx in tech companies to the Beehive state has “has brought with it more male CEOs, presidents, general managers (for those headquartered outside the state), corporate board members, and employees more generally.”
The prediction is that for businesses to be successful in the future, they will need to “attract, retain, and grow talent in ways that provide more women the opportunity to succeed at all levels of the company, including the board.” The study also found that Utah is already on track and have made influential efforts to address these discrepancies.
Utah Women & Leadership Project hopes that this study will “encourage Utah business leaders to be more open-minded and thoughtful in terms of recruiting, promoting and retaining prepared and competent women into these top-level positions.”
To read the entire report, click here.
