Women CEOs emphasize empathy, adaptability and diversity more frequently: S&P Survey

In an analysis conducted by S&P Global in collaboration with researchers from the University of Paris, Women CEOs surfaced with greater empathy, adaptability and diversity. It was found they exposed the aforementioned values more frequently than their male peers. The survey had nearly 8,500 companies participating across 61 countries.

"Our research identified clear gender affinities for key concepts and words during the peak pandemic period across nearly 8,500 companies in 61 countries that we examined," said Daniela Brandazza, Senior Director and Analytical Manager at S&P Global Ratings and a lead author of the report.

S&P Global is a provider of credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets.

Daniela Brandazza said, "We concluded that women CEOs favoured a leadership and communication style that emphasized flexibility and adaptability during a crisis period, enabling their connection with employees and other stakeholders. As our research shows, women CEOs may be leading the way in this regard even if their relative numbers remain small."

"Our research identified clear gender affinities for key concepts and words during the peak pandemic period," she added.

The report clearly showed little progress being made in gender equity at the CEO level. Men outnumbered their women counterparts by a ratio of 19:1. The report showed higher numbers of women CEOs in Norway (14 per cent) and Singapore (12 per cent).

In contrast, Japan (0.8 per cent) and Brazil (zero per cent) had the lowest number of women in executive leadership roles. The real estate and health care sectors exhibited unusually high numbers of women at the helm, with women CEOs four times more likely to lead firms in those industries than in the energy sector.