Companies that are recognized with “most admired” reputation status by their industry peers have a higher proportion of female leaders—albeit well below gender parity—according to Weber Shandwick’s Gender Forward Pioneer Index, whicg measures the percentage of women in senior management positions at Fortune Global 500 companies.

The index shows that only 10.9 percent of the senior executives of the world’s 500 largest companies by revenue are women. Of those companies, not one has an equal representation of men and women on their senior management teams, and nearly four in 10 companies (37.6 percent) have an all-male senior leadership team.

“Reputational advantage accrues to companies with more women in senior executive positions,” says Gail Heimann, president of Weber Shandwick. “This is great news for companies and great news for women. But despite a strong business case for improving women’s access to C-level positions, as confirmed by countless research studies, our GFP Index magnifies a harsh reality where few women are represented in the highest corporate ranks.

 “It is high time that companies acknowledge the intangible benefits as well as the tangible returns that more gender balanced senior teams bring to company success, as well as the value of proactively encouraging female leaders to be heard.”

Weber Shandwick audited Fortune 500 companies, identifying their top executives and their genders, an evaluation of more than 8,600 executives representing 36 countries. Although no companies worldwide are at gender parity in their leadership ranks, some industries perform better than others, as do companies in particular markets.

  • The top industry for women in senior management is general merchandisers, with an index of 33 percent (vs. the cross-industry average of 10.9 percent).
  • Five industries have no women on their senior management teams: diversified wholesalers, food and grocery wholesalers, shipping, temporary help and textiles.
  • North America has the highest proportion of women in senior management. Nearly two in 10 (19 percent) of senior executives in North America are women.
  • Sweden is the individual market with the highest proportion of women in senior management, followed closely by Turkey (27 percent and 26 percent, respectively).
  • In total, only 13 of the Global Fortune 500 companies have a female CEO.

Analysis of the reputational standing among the world’s leading revenue-producing companies worldwide shows a correlation between reputation and the proportion of women in senior level positions. Using the Fortune World’s Most Admired rankings as a guide, Weber Shandwick determined that Most Admired Companies (those with the best reputations in their respective industries) have twice the percentage of women in senior management as contender companies, or those with weaker reputations in their industries (17 percent vs. 8 percent, respectively).

According to executives interviewed for the firm’s Gender Equality in the Executive Ranks study, there are two factors that directly point to women’s contributions to the bottom-line success of organizations: “Diverse perspectives lead to better financial performance,” cited by 38 percent, and “women make good leaders,” identified by 35 percent.

“Weber Shandwick strongly believes that gender equality is rapidly becoming a new driver of company reputation,” said Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputation strategist. “The media continues to be highly influential and journalists pay rapt attention to this hot-button gender topic, so corporate leaders are well advised to respect the reputational return on investment and competitive advantage that comes with gender balance at the top.”

In fact, four in 10 C-Level executives (39 percent) report that their companies actively share such information to enhance their internal culture and public perception.