How Women Become CEOs: Finding the Path to the Top
The low representation of women in CEO positions remains a puzzling phenomenon in the research community as well as in practice. This study investigates the promotion of top managers to the CEO position using a sample of 15,696 executives from U.S. publicly traded companies spanning from 2011 to 2021. Its aim is to identify elements that contribute to the gender disparity observed in CEO positions. We replicate the existence of a glass ceiling where women are less likely to be promoted ceteris paribus. However, glass ceiling explains just part of the drop in women’s presence in CEO positions compared to their presence in top management; we find that women take on top management positions that are less likely to be promoted, regardless of gender. We refer to this explanation as the “glass maze.” In line with social identity and role congruity theories, women are more prevalent heading human resources, sustainability, and legal departments as opposed to the traditional CEO feeder jobs such as finance (CFOs) and operating positions (COOs). These results provide novel insights into women’s low presence in CEO positions.