A new study by Korn Ferry finds that the biggest drop was for the chief information officer (CIO) position where women went from 19% to 16%. Women chief financial officers dropped slightly from 12% to 11%.
"Our research indicates women CIOs rank just as competitively as their male counterparts on key competencies," says Craig Stephenson, managing director at Korn Ferry's North America Technology Officers Practice. "We believe it is important to establish explicit and unbiased methodologies in how IT leaders are assessed by both competency and experience."
The percentage of women CEOs did go up slightly--from 5% to 6%. Women in C-suite positions were more prominent in human resources and marketing.
Nearly one-third of chief marketing officers at the top 1,000 firms are women, up from 29% in 2016. And, women accounted for 49% of chief marketing officers in the finance industry last year. Women were 55% of all chief human resources officers overall with that number reaching 66% in financial firms and 48% in retail.