Women on march to top of US companies
Indira Nooyi is the fourth powerful woman in the world - According to Forbes
Women march to the top of US companies
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“The number of women in charge of large US companies could double in the next five years as more female managers break through corporate America's glass ceiling, according to Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo's chief executive.
Ms Nooyi, one of only 11 female chief executives among Fortune 500 companies, said a growing number of women had risen to senior corporate positions and could make the leap to a top job over the next few years.
"The next five to 10 years I think are very promising . . . I am meeting more and more fantastic women at what I call almost-CEO levels. There is a lot of hope," she told the Financial Times in an interview.
"Eleven is better than zero, progress has been made and I hope that number doubles quickly".
The comments by Ms Nooyi, who became PepsiCo's first female CEO last October after 12 years with the consumer goods group, contrast with the widespread fears of a slowdown in women's rise to the top of corporate America.
Last year, women lost ground to men in the share of both board memberships and corporate officer positions, according to Catalyst, an organisation focused on gender and equality issues.
The research found that, despite accounting for nearly half of the US workforce, women make up only 15 per cent of directors and 16 per cent of senior officer positions in Fortune 500 companies.
"Women candidates for senior positions face greater scrutiny than men," said Ilene Lang, president of Catalyst.
"But women are emerging. As companies look for the leaders of the future they want to play with a full deck, why look at only half of the potential talent?"
The ranks of female chief executives of large companies, which include Ebay's Meg Whitman and Xerox's Anne Mulcahy, were recently augmented by the appointment of Irene Rosenfeld, a former senior executive at PepsiCo, as chief executive of Kraft.
Ms Nooyi, who spent the first 23 years of her life in her native India before winning a place at Yale University in the US, said the lack of women in senior positions was one of the historical reason for their small presence in the boardroom.
She said that companies had a responsibility to break any remnants of a glass ceiling by setting up programmes to help women rise to the top.”Link Financial times