Markets
Visualizing the Rise of Women on Boards of Directors Worldwide
The Rise of Women on Boards of Directors Worldwide
Women’s representation in the boardroom is a mixed bag. The number of women on boards is rising across the globe—but the rate of increase has slowed for three of the past four years.
Based on MSCI research of All Country World Index (ACWI) constituent companies, the graphic above reveals a 10-year trend of women’s representation on corporate boards, and projects three future scenarios on the way to parity.
ESG Goals: The Path to Parity
The ESG ecosystem considers 30% representation to be a critical milestone on the road to reaching gender parity on corporate boards of directors.
Following a small uptick in 2019—and two years of slowed growth from 2017 to 2018—the rise of women on boards slowed again in 2020, gaining 0.6 percentage points (p.p.).
Based on different forward-looking scenarios, here’s how long it could take to reach equal representation:
| Progressive scenario | Business-as-usual scenario | Deceleration scenario | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years to reach 30% Women on Boards (WoB) | 6 years | 9 years | 16 years |
| Year we may reach >50% WoB | 2039 | 2045 | 2070 |
Source: MSCI ESG Research LLC as of Oct. 30, 2020.
On the whole, parity on corporate boards could be reached as early as 2039 or as late as 2070.
Women’s Representation: State of the Unions
MSCI research reveals trends that highlight significant traction. In 2020, fewer women became directors, but all-male boards continued to decline worldwide to 17% in 2020 (a 2 p.p. drop) among the ACWI contingent.
This trend is partially driven by emerging markets, where all-male boards dropped to 31%, from over 34% initially. Hong Kong is one of the few countries that actually experienced an increase of 5 p.p. in all-male boards. In contrast, Saudi Arabia’s share reduced by 8 p.p. to 86% in 2020.
| Country | % Companies with 3+ WoB | Country | % Companies with no WoB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 100% | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 100% |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 100% | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 86% |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 100% | 🇦🇷 Argentina | 67% |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | 100% | 🇭🇺 Hungary | 67% |
| 🇫🇷 France | 100% | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 65% |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | 91% | 🇦🇪 UAE | 63% |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | 91% | 🇨🇱 Chile | 44% |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 90% | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 38% |
| 🇬🇧 UK | 85% | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | 37% |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | 83% | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 36% |
Source: MSCI ESG Research LLC as of Oct. 30, 2020.
Europe continues to lead the world in gender representation on boards. All top 10 countries with three or more women directors are found in the region, with countries like Norway, Italy, and Belgium being the closest to reaching parity.
Across sectors, utilities experienced the largest increase in companies with three or more women on boards, with a 9% jump between 2019-2020.
The Other Glass Ceiling: The C-Suite
The number of women CEOs remains low across all regions, but CFO roles show more promise.
| MSCI World, 2017 | MSCI World, 2020 | MSCI EM, 2017 | MSCI EM, 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women in CEO roles | 4.7% | 4.9% | 3.3% | 4.8% |
| Women in CFO roles | 9.4% | 12.1% | 9.8% | 18.7% |
Source: MSCI ESG Research LLC as of Oct. 30, 2020.
This global rise is also largely thanks to emerging markets. Since 2017, emerging market companies have exhibited higher percentages of CFOs than companies in developed markets, and the difference is widening.
The Glass Ceiling Isn’t Unbreakable
As MSCI reports, the progress towards parity in boardrooms does not necessarily represent the workplace. Emerging research suggests that women have been more negatively impacted by the pandemic’s economic fallout—potentially undoing several years’ worth of improvements.
However, developing nations still show promising results in key indicators of gender diversity, with further opportunity to grow corporate bottom lines.
As more post-pandemic recovery data becomes available amidst vaccine rollouts, we’ll gain a better sense of whether we’re still on track to follow these long-term trends.
Markets
Visualizing the Rise of the U.S. Dollar Since the 19th Century
This animated graphic shows the U.S. dollar, the world’s primary reserve currency, as a share of foreign reserves since 1900.
Creator Program
Visualizing the Rise of the U.S. Dollar Since the 19th Century
As the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. dollar made up 58.4% of foreign reserves held by central banks in 2022, falling near 25-year lows.
Today, emerging countries are slowly decoupling from the greenback, with foreign reserves shifting to currencies like the Chinese yuan.
At the same time, the steep appreciation of the U.S. dollar is leading countries to sell their U.S. foreign reserves to help prop up their currencies, in turn buying currencies such as the Australian and Canadian dollars to help generate higher yields.
The above animated graphic from James Eagle shows the rapid ascent of the U.S. dollar over the last century, and its gradual decline in recent years.
Dollar Dominance: A Brief History
In 1944, the U.S. dollar became the world’s reserve currency under the Bretton Woods Agreement. Over the first half of the century, the U.S. ran budget surpluses while increasing trade and economic ties with war-torn countries, expanding its influence as the world’s store of value.
Later through the 1960s, the U.S. dollar share of global foreign reserves rapidly increased as political allies stockpiled the dollar.
By 2000, dollar dominance hit a peak of 71% of global reserves. With the creation of the European Union a year earlier, countries such as China began increasing the share of euros in reserves. Between 2000 and 2005, the share of the dollar in China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by an estimated 15 percentage points.
The dollar began a long rally after the global financial crisis, which drove central banks to cut their dollar reserves to help bolster their currencies.
Fast-forward to today, and dollar reserves have fallen roughly 13 percentage points from their historical peak.
The State of the World’s Reserve Currency
In 2022, 16% of Russia’s export transactions were in yuan, up from almost nothing before the war. Brazil and Argentina have also begun adopting the Chinese currency for trade or reserve purposes. Still, the U.S. dollar makes up 80% of Brazil’s reserves.
Yet while the U.S. dollar has decreased in share of foreign reserves, it still has an immense influence in the world economy.
The majority of trade is invoiced in the U.S. dollar globally, a trend that has stayed fairly consistent over many decades. Between 1999-2019, 74% of trade in Asia was invoiced in dollars and in the Americas, it made up 96% of all invoicing.
Furthermore, almost 90% of foreign exchange transactions involve the U.S. dollar thanks to its liquidity.
However, countries are increasingly finding alternative options than the dollar. Today, Western businesses have begun settling trade with China in renminbi. Looking further ahead, digital currencies could provide options that don’t include the U.S. dollar.
Even more so, if the U.S. share of global GDP continues to shrink, the shift to a multipolar system could progress over this century.
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