Many women found their voice in 2018, but some are still searching for their seats.
Representation of women in leadership roles, in technology and businesses at large, is not proportionate to the workforce. Only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. When an institution fails to change from the inside out, sometimes a kick from the outside can drive the needed change.
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Monday mandating companies headquartered in the state have at least one female board director by the end of 2019. By the end of 2021, companies with five board members will need at least two female directors, and companies with six or more members will need at least three women.
Companies that fail to comply can be fined $100,000 for initial violations and $300,000 for subsequent ones.
Here's how some of the most prominent technology companies based in California fare in board gender equity, and which ones need to take action before the first deadlines hit:
The big 5
The West Coast is home to the five most prominent technology companies in the U.S. and, arguably, the world: Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. While the last two are headquartered in Washington state and won't be affected by the mandate, these companies are held up as the golden children of American technology.
What they do — or fail to do — reflects on the rest of the industry.
None of these companies have a female chairman. And none have female representation on the board that exceeds one-third of total membership.
Board composition of the big five technology companies
| Company | Women on board | Total members | Proportion of women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 9 | 22% | |
| Apple | 2 | 8 | 25% |
| Alphabet | 2 | 11 | 18% |
| Microsoft | 4 | 14 | 29% |
| Amazon | 3 | 9 | 33% |
Of the three companies that will be under the scope of California's new law — Facebook, Apple and Alphabet — all will be safe by the first deadline with their current board compositions. By the 2021 deadline, each will need one additional woman director.
The rest
Of 15 prominent technology companies also headquartered in California, all have at least one woman board director. But gender parity in the board isn't much better than in the big five.
Board composition of CA-based technology companies
| Company | Women on board | Total members | Proportion of women |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe | 2 | 11 | 18% |
| Broadcom | 1 | 9 | 11% |
| Cisco | 3 | 11 | 27% |
| Cloudera | 2 | 7 | 29% |
| HP | 4 | 10 | 40% |
| HPE | 5 | 12 | 42% |
| Intel | 2 | 9 | 22% |
| Intuit | 3 | 10 | 30% |
| NetApp | 2 | 8 | 25% |
| Nvidia | 2 | 11 | 18% |
| Oracle | 3 | 14 | 21% |
| Qualcomm | 2 | 12 | 17% |
| Salesforce | 3 | 13 | 23% |
| Symantec | 3 | 13 | 23% |
| VMware | 2 | 8 | 25% |
HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise had the highest proportion of women board members, at 40% and 42%, respectively.
HPE was the only company of those investigated with a woman chairman, Patricia Russo. HP was named CIO Dive's Company of the Year for Diversity Award in 2017. With four women and five minority directors, the company was far ahead of most large Silicon Valley companies in diversity.
The next best company for proportion of women on the board was Intuit at 30%. The remainder are downhill from there, falling as low as 17% for Qualcomm and 11% for Broadcom. Adobe and Nvidia also failed to crack into 20% or better for female representation.
Based on current composition, by 2021, Broadcom will need to add at least two women to its board to avoid fines. Seven companies will need to hire at least one more woman director: Adobe, Cloudera, Intel, NetApp, Nvidia, Qualcomm and VMware.
