Women in the C-Suite: the numbers look better—but the reality still bites

Jun 29, 2025

The number of women leading Fortune 500 companies just hit a new record.
But let’s not mistake headlines for real power.

Despite progress, the facts show that women still face shorter tenures, higher exit rates, and fewer second chances in the top job.

Here are the numbers:

55 women are now CEOs of Fortune 500 firms in 2025
That’s 11%, the highest share ever recorded
Only 8 women lead FTSE 100 companies (just 8%)
17.4% of Fortune 500 CFOs are women, a new high.

This is what progress looks like in 2025. And it’s still painfully slow.

What’s going wrong?

Even the most qualified women are struggling to stay in the top job:

Women CEOs have an average tenure of just 5.9 years
Men? 7.6 years, according to Russell Reynolds
Women are 33% more likely to be exited within 3 years

Boards are still treating women as symbols of change, rather than long-term leaders.

In fact, six companies in this year’s Fortune 500—like CVS Health and Duke Energy—replaced a female CEO with a man, per Fortune.

And while nine new women were promoted, many of them came from inside the company, suggesting women still need to prove performance and loyalty over a longer period of time.

The deeper bias

This isn’t just bad luck. It’s design.

Women challenge outdated ideas of what leadership “looks like”
They’re more likely to be appointed in times of crisis
They receive less board support and harsher scrutiny
Boards with low diversity often revert to what they “know”—a male CEO
Their authority is questioned more often (see The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart)
And senior women still carry the burden of leading D&I efforts—often unpaid, often unrecognised.

It’s a leadership double-bind. And women are paying for it.

Qualified—and still questioned

A recent Forbes report found that female CEOs are often more qualified than their male peers, with stronger credentials and longer experience in leadership roles.

So no—this isn’t a pipeline issue. It’s a perception issue.

The DEI retreat is real

Jennifer McCollum, CEO of Catalyst, warned that the retreat from DEI threatens the fragile pipeline to the top:

“Even for some of the most privileged women in the country, the path to the top job … comes at a crawl.”

Some companies are already walking back diversity ‘targets’. We’re seeing DEI “aspirations” are replacing firm commitments. In the US, political pressure is fuelling a quiet but dangerous step back.

Why it matters

Representation at the top isn’t about optics. It’s about who gets trusted with risk, strategy, and long-term value creation.

And right now? Women are still being treated as exceptions, not expectations.

At The Purse we don’t spotlight women leaders because they’re rare. We spotlight them because they show what’s possible when women are trusted with capital, responsibility, and room to lead.

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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