Dive Brief:

• Women filled 669 board seats in California between 2018 — when the state compelled public companies headquartered in the state to ensure gender diversity on boards — and June 30, according to California Partners Project's commissioned report released Oct. 13. Less than 3% of public company boards are composed of all male directors, compared to nearly 30% in 2018, the nonprofit found.
• As of publication of the report, 650 public companies in California must abide by the law. Of the 5,225 board seats at these companies, women hold 1,275. Only 15 companies did not have women on their boards in 2020, according to the report. The law required each public company to have at least one woman on its board of directors by the end of 2019. The report found that 119 women serve on two California boards, and another 18 serve on three or more boards.
• In compliance with the law, boards with six or more directors must have at least three female directors, boards of five must have at least two, and boards with four or fewer members must have one by Dec. 31, 2021. The data in the report reflects companies in the Russell 3000 Index, a market-capitalization-weighted U.S. equity index, and 192 other publicly traded companies headquartered in California.

Dive Insight:

In addition to increasing female representation on public company boards, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Sept. 30 that requires individuals from "underrepresented communities" to have at least one seat on certain corporate boards by the end of 2021.

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