President Trump calls for an end to DEI programs
President Donald Trump is calling for an end to federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Fox – Seattle
In the face of historic backlash in 2020, women rose to prominence in America’s boardrooms as companies replaced their predominantly white, male-dominated memberships. Then came the backlash against diversity efforts.
Women now hold just under three in 10 seats on the boards of the nation’s largest companies, according to new data from 50/50 Women on Boards.
At its peak a year ago, women business leaders held 30.4% of board seats on the Russell 3000, a benchmark that tracks the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the United States.
That number is now below the 30% threshold first reached in 2024, according to the latest 50/50 Women Board Gender Diversity Index report, produced in partnership with data firm Equilar.
Women of color are also losing ground. Their share of all board seats was 7.3%, down from 7.4% the previous year.
Heather Spilsbury, CEO of 50/50 Women on Boards, a nonprofit organization that advocates for greater diversity on corporate boards, told USA TODAY that “progress toward gender balance on corporate boards is slowing and in some areas is reversing.”
Board turnover at listed companies, which average fewer than a dozen seats, was already slow, at about one seat a year. Spilsbury said the number of new director appointments fell sharply in the first quarter, dropping from an average of 400 seats to nearly 200. At the same time, 22% of directors added to Russell 3000 boards were women, down from 30% in 2024 and about 40% in 2023.
“We are seeing fewer new board seats being created and fewer women making up those appointments than in previous years,” Spilsbury said.
Board members are appointed by the company and then voted on by shareholders. Their people come from a wide range of industries and backgrounds. For women, these part-time jobs can bring prestige, power, and high salaries.
Over the past decade, companies have hired more women in the face of pressure from institutional investors, regulators and states to diversify their boards. Today, nearly 6 in 10 Russell 3000 companies have three or more women on their boards.
But as the political climate changed and anti-DEI pressure campaigns gained momentum, corporate board diversity policies disappeared.
A federal appeals court has blocked a Nasdaq rule to increase board diversity that would require thousands of public companies trading on Nasdaq to have at least one woman, person of color or LGBTQ+ member on their boards unless they explained why they were not doing so.
Goldman Sachs has reneged on its promise to ensure diversity on the boards of the companies it helps take public. California rules to increase the number of women, people of color and LGBTQ+ officers have been repealed. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services no longer considers the gender, race and ethnicity of company directors when making voting recommendations.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has abandoned its goal of having 30% diverse boards on S&P 500 companies. Mutual fund giant Fidelity has stopped threatening to vote against directors whose boards lack diversity.
As companies face “extraordinary uncertainty” due to geopolitical instability, economic instability, and the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion, some corporate boards “may be defaulting to familiar figures” such as current or former CEOs, putting the steady growth of women at risk, Spilsbury said.
Four out of 10 Russell 3000 companies have two or fewer women on their boards.
“That approach could narrow the path for women, as they remain underrepresented in CEO roles. At the same time, the broader DEI environment may make some companies less visible or less aware of diversity,” Spilsbury said.
The timeline for reaching gender parity could be even longer, as boards appoint fewer women and have fewer overall members.
In 2025, Equaler predicted that by 2044, half of Russell 3000 executives will be women, five years later than its 2024 forecast. The forecast for 2019 to 2022 was 2030.
“My concern is that board diversity could be set back at the very moment that companies need a broader perspective and stronger oversight,” Spilsbury said.
