Women are losing ground in US boardrooms, with their share of new appointments falling sharply to just 22.7%, new research reveals.
Progress on gender diversity in US boardrooms has gone into reverse for the first time in more than a decade, according to the 2026 Annual Gender Diversity Index™ from 50/50 Women on Boards. As of the second quarter of 2026, women held 29.2% of Russell 3000 board seats, down from 30.1% a year earlier.
The clearest pressure point, however, is not a lack of vacancies. It is who is being selected to fill them. Russell 3000 companies made 2,440 new board appointments between July 2025 and June 2026, up 4.1% from the previous year.
Women received just 553 of those appointments, or 22.7%, down from 29.1% in 2025 and almost half the 40% share they received in 2022. In other words, more seats became available – but a smaller share went to women. The findings raise fresh questions about board selection, succession planning and whether nomination committees are casting the net widely enough when choosing future directors.
WARNING SIGNS
Fair Play Talks has been tracking the slowdown for several years. In 2024, Fair Play Talks reported that women had reached 30% of Russell 3000 board seats, but the pace of progress was already slowing. At that point, women’s representation had increased by only around one percentage point over the previous year, compared with stronger annual gains earlier in the decade.
By 2025, the warning signs had become more pronounced. Fair Play Talks reported that women’s share of new board appointments had fallen to a seven-year low, with women receiving just 27.1% of new appointments in the fourth quarter of 2024. The new Index suggests that slowdown has now translated into an actual decline in women’s overall representation.
CALL TO ACTION
For Heather Spilsbury, CEO of 50/50 Women on Boards, the latest findings show why progress cannot be assumed to continue without deliberate action. “This research is a call to action,” said Spilsbury. “Merit is the standard; access is the issue. Our role is to influence the decision-makers shaping board composition – particularly Nominating and Governance Chairs – connect them with exceptional talent, and strengthen succession and director-selection practices.”
That focus on access is significant because the number of board openings actually increased. The issue is therefore not simply whether vacancies exist, but whether women are getting equal access to the searches, shortlists and selection processes that determine who fills them.
FEWER COMPANIES HAVE THREE OR MORE WOMEN
The report finds that the proportion of gender-balanced Russell 3000 companies remained unchanged at 13.5%. However, the share of companies with three or more women directors fell from 44.0% to 40.2%. At the same time, the number of companies with one woman or no women both increased.
That matters because previous research has suggested that reaching a critical mass of women can have a broader impact on board culture, leadership and future appointments. In 2024, Fair Play Talks reported that 44.4% of Russell 3000 companies had at least three women on their boards. The latest figures therefore show that some of those gains are now being lost.
WOMEN OF COLOUR ALSO LOSE GROUND
The reversal is not confined to gender alone. Among directors who self-identify their race and ethnicity, people of colour now hold 18.4% of Russell 3000 board seats, compared with 18.7% a year earlier. Within that:
- Women of colour declined from 7.4% to 7.1%
- Men of colour remained unchanged at 11.3%
The finding adds an important intersectional dimension to the overall decline. Fair Play Talks has previously highlighted concerns that racial diversity on Corporate America’s boards was slowing, particularly among newly appointed directors. The latest figures suggest women of colour are now losing ground on both gender and racial representation measures.
WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION DECLINES ACROSS SECTORS AND STATES
The fall is also broad-based. Women’s share of board seats declined in nine of the 11 sectors examined. Only Utilities increased, rising from 35.5% to 37.1%. Consumer Cyclical remained unchanged at 32.7%. The breadth of the decline suggests the reversal is not being driven by a single industry or a small group of companies.
The geographic picture tells a similar story. Among the 25 states with at least 20 Russell 3000 companies, women’s share of board seats declined in 17 states and increased in only eight. Fourteen states moved by less than one percentage point, suggesting that in many areas progress has not collapsed dramatically – but has either stalled or begun to slip.
LARGER COMPANIES REMAIN MORE DIVERSE
Company size remains closely associated with gender diversity. Median market capitalisation was:
- $6.1 billion among companies with three or more women directors
- $3.0 billion among gender-balanced companies
- Just $0.5 billion among companies with no women on their boards
That suggests larger Russell 3000 companies remain much more likely to have stronger female representation. For example, in 2024, women held a substantially higher share of board seats among the largest Russell 3000 companies than among smaller firms.
BOARDS MORE BALANCED WHEN WOMEN LEAD
One of the strongest findings in the report is the relationship between women in influential leadership positions and the overall gender composition of boards. Companies with at least one woman serving as CEO, Board Chair or Nominating/Governance Chair had 34.4% women on their boards.
That compares with just 25.8% at companies where none of those positions was held by a woman. The difference is even greater when looking at gender-balanced boards. In fact, 22.6% of companies with at least one woman in a key leadership position had gender-balanced boards, compared with just 7.8% when none of those roles was held by a woman.
The findings reinforce a recurring theme in board diversity research: who holds power matters, not simply who has a seat. Earlier research similarly found that companies with women and people of colour in influential leadership roles were more likely to have more diverse boards overall.
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP PIPELINE
Cynthia E. Clark, Professor of Governance at Bentley University, said the reversal should not weaken the focus on women in board leadership. “Despite downward pressure on many governance fronts, women’s board leadership is imperative. We continue to work with firms that advocate for change and engage those still on the sidelines.” The report was developed with Equilar as Exclusive Data Partner and Bentley University as Strategic Research Partner.
The latest findings come despite a strong pipeline of experienced women seeking board opportunities. Earlier this year, 50/50 Women on Boards identified 50 senior executives in its 2026 Women to Watch for Boards programme. The initiative aims specifically to connect nomination committees and board recruiters with women who have the experience required for corporate board service.
That makes the latest appointment data especially significant. The problem does not appear to be simply an absence of qualified women. It is whether boards are widening searches, building stronger succession pipelines and selecting women when vacancies arise.
FOUR ACTIONS FOR BOARD LEADERS
The report identifies four immediate actions board leaders can take to strengthen future board composition.
1. Make succession planning continuous
Boards should not wait until a vacancy appears before considering future candidates. Succession planning should be an ongoing process that identifies future skills needs and develops broad candidate pipelines well in advance of board turnover.
2. Measure the outcome of board change
Boards should track what happens when seats become available. That means looking not only at overall composition, but at who is replacing departing directors and whether each round of appointments expands or narrows diversity. The new figures demonstrate why this matters: board openings rose by 4.1%, yet women received just 22.7% of new appointments.
3. Widen the candidate pool before a search begins
Nomination committees should broaden the pool of potential directors before formal recruitment starts. If searches begin with narrow networks or restrictive assumptions about prior board experience, qualified candidates may never make the shortlist.
4. Hold nominating and governance chairs accountable
The report argues that Nominating and Governance Chairs have particular influence over the future composition of boards. Accountability therefore needs to extend beyond broad diversity commitments to the actual outcomes of succession and director-selection decisions.
BOARD DIVERSITY REPORTING IS UNDER PRESSURE
The decline comes against a wider backdrop of weakening board-diversity reporting in the US. Fair Play Talks reported in 2025 that corporate board-diversity disclosure had fallen sharply amid legal and political pressures.
Less disclosure makes it harder for investors, employees and boards themselves to understand whether progress is being sustained. Independent benchmarks such as the Gender Diversity Index therefore become increasingly important when formal reporting becomes less consistent.
US REVERSAL CONTRASTS WITH UK PROGRESS
The US findings also contrast with recent progress in the UK. Fair Play Talks reported in 2025 that women had reached 43% of board roles across FTSE 350 companies, exceeding the UK’s voluntary 40% target.
Yet even in the UK, Fair Play Talks has repeatedly highlighted the continued underrepresentation of women in CEO, Chair and other senior executive roles. That distinction is important because the latest US findings show that companies with women in influential leadership positions are considerably more likely to have balanced boards.
PROGRESS CANNOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED
For more than a decade, the overall direction of travel in US boardrooms was clear: women were gradually gaining seats. The 2026 Gender Diversity Index marks a significant break in that trend. Women now hold 29.2% of Russell 3000 board seats, down from 30.1%. Their share of new appointments has fallen even more sharply – to 22.7%, from 29.1% last year and around 40% in 2022.
Companies with at least three women on their boards have declined from 44.0% to 40.2%. Women of colour have slipped from 7.4% to 7.1%. And women’s representation has fallen across most sectors and most of the largest states represented in the Index.
The findings suggest that previous progress is not self-sustaining. There may be a strong pipeline of talented women, but that pipeline only changes board composition when women make it through search, nomination and appointment decisions.
Every board opening therefore matters. As 50/50 Women on Boards argues, the future composition of corporate boards will be determined not simply by who is qualified – but by who gets access to the opportunity to serve.
Read the full 2026 Annual Gender Diversity Index here.
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