Authors: John M. Valley, Jessie Armour and Shae-Lynne Shaheen
Mid-year results for 2025: women in executive officer positions
This year we observed a slowing or declining trend in both disclosure and representation of women on companies’ executive teams. However, among those companies disclosing the number of their executive officers who are women, the average number of women executive officers was just over two, similar to last year.
Number and percentage of women in executive officer positions
Our data showed a decline in the number of companies reporting on the number of women executive officers (a 1.6% decline compared to mid-year 2024) and the percentage of women executive officers (a decline of 1.5% compared to mid-year 2024).
By mid-year 2025, 483 companies had disclosed the number of women holding executive officer positions in their organizations. These companies reported that women held a total of 977 executive officer positions. On average, these companies reported 2.02 women executive officers per company, while the 496 companies disclosing the percentage of women in executive officer positions reported that women held an average of 21.5% of such positions. These numbers reflect a decrease in the number of women executive officers per company (compared to the 2.07 women executive officers last year) but a modest increase in the average percentage of executive officer positions held by women (compared to 21.2% in 2024). These results are shaped in part by the fact that companies in mid-year 2025 were more likely to disclose the percentage, rather than the absolute number, of women in executive officer positions.
FIGURE 20.1
Overall average number of women executive officers
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 575 | 2022: 597 | 2023: 557 | 2024: 528 | 2025: 483
FIGURE 20.2
Overall average percentage of women executive officers
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 565 | 2022: 582 | 2023: 568 | 2024: 541| 2025: 496
The number of executive teams without any women executive officers has increased slightly, with 27.7% of companies reporting that they had no women executive officers (compared to 26.7% in mid-year 2024). Further, companies that reported having two or more women executive officers decreased by 1.5 percentage points in 2025, to 45.3% (from 46.8% in mid-year 2024), while the percentage of companies that reported having only one woman executive officer has increased marginally to 26.9% (from 26.5% in mid-year 2024). These results are described in more detail in Figures 21, 22.1 and 22.2.
FIGURE 21
2025 proportion of women executive officers*
Total companies that disclosed: 486
*Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
FIGURE 22.1
Number of women executive officers (all companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 575 | 2022: 597 | 2023: 557 | 2024: 528 | 2025: 483
Percentage of disclosing companies with:*
*Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
FIGURE 22.2
Percentage of women executive officers (all companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 565 | 2022: 582 | 2023: 568 | 2024: 541 | 2025: 496
Percentage of disclosing companies with:*
*Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
Among the 44 S&P/TSX 60 companies that reported on the number of women executive officers, the average number of women executive officers increased year-over-year (3.98 at mid-year 2025 compared to 3.64 at mid-year 2024). Among those disclosing the average percentage of women executive officers, there was also a slight increase (1.2 percentage points) in the average percentage of women executive officers, to 28.7%.
FIGURE 23.1
Average number of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 50 | 2022: 48 | 2023: 48 | 2024: 45 | 2025: 44
FIGURE 23.2
Average percentage of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 50 | 2022: 47 | 2023: 51 | 2024: 47 | 2025: 47
The increase in the average number of women executive officers among the S&P/TSX 60 companies disclosing at mid-year 2025 was driven by slight increases in the number of those companies with four or more women executive officers. The results summarized in Figure 24.2 are consistent with that trend and illustrate that the percentage of women executive officers at reporting companies is concentrated between 25 and 34%.
FIGURE 24.1
Number of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 50 | 2022: 48 | 2023: 48 | 2024: 45 | 2025: 44
Percentage of disclosing companies:
FIGURE 24.2
Percentage of women executive officers (S&P/TSX 60 companies)
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 50 | 2022: 47 | 2023: 51 | 2024: 47 | 2025: 47
Percentage of disclosing companies:
Women executive officers by industry
Broken down by industry, the highest average number of women executive officers continued to be found in the Utilities & Pipelines sector, followed by Communication & Media and Financial Services.
Utilities & Pipelines, Communication & Media and Real Estate were again this year’s top performers in terms of the average percentage of women executive officers. The Oil & Gas and Energy Services industries, on the other hand, had the lowest average percentage of women executive officers. The Energy Services industry also had the lowest average number of women executive officers, while the year-over-year trend for Oil & Gas appears to point to modest improvements.
As we have stated in previous years’ reports, it is difficult to make relative assessments of performance between most industries as there is a wide variation in the number of executive officers per company between industries and a wide variation in the number of reporting issuers within each industry, which impacts the relative sensitivity of each industry to change in averages. This could explain why, for example, the average number of women executive officers in the Real Estate industry is close to the overall average, but women represent a relatively high percentage of that industry’s executive officers.
FIGURE 25
Number of women executive officers by industry
Total companies that disclosed 2024: 528 | 2025: 483
FIGURE 26
Percentage of women executive officers by industry
Total companies that disclosed 2024: 541 | 2025: 496
Considering the representation of women in appointing executive officers
In 2025, only 506 companies disclosed whether they take into account the representation of women in the identification and appointment of executive officers. This represents a sharp decline of 7.9% in the proportion of companies reporting on this measure. However, of those reporting, 437 (86.4%) stated that they do so, a marginal increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to mid-year 2024.
The proportion of S&P/TSX 60 companies reporting that they take gender into account when making executive appointments decreased. So far this year, 37 (94.9%) of the companies that have provided this disclosure report doing so compared to 46 (97.9%) of companies in mid-year 2024.
FIGURE 27
Consideration of gender in executive officer appointments
Total companies that disclosed: 2021: 624 | 2022: 634 | 2023: 603| 2024: 593 | 2025: 506
Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2021: 55 | 2022: 55 | 2023: 54| 2024: 47 | 2025: 39
As with the adoption of policies relating to the consideration of women for director positions, the primary reason given for not specifically considering gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers relates to an expressed concern about compromising a focus on merit. This is consistent with the results in prior years. The five most common reasons for not considering gender in 2025 are listed in Figure 28. A minority (2.9%) of companies that disclosed that they do not consider gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers did not provide a specific reason for failing to do so.
FIGURE 28
Top five reasons for not considering gender in executive officer appointments
1. Compromises a focus on merit
2. Best candidate may not be selected
3. Stage of development or nature of business
4. Consideration of gender limits the talent pool or is too restrictive
5. Small number of this position or low turnover
Targets for women executive officers
This year, of the 491 companies (81.3% of TSX issuers with full or partial diversity disclosure at mid-year 2025) disclosing whether they had a target for women executive officers, 53 companies (10.8%) disclosed that they did. This is a slight decrease compared to 10.9% at mid-year 2024 and reflects the much lower level of interest demonstrated by companies in providing disclosure on, and adopting, targets for executive officers compared to the board level.
The number of S&P/TSX 60 companies adopting targets for women in executive officer positions decreased, with only 6 of 45 companies (13.3%) disclosing whether they had adopted such a target indicating that they had done so.
In our review, we note that some companies disclosed having adopted a target for women employees based on a group other than “executive officers” as defined under securities laws. These companies are generally not included in our totals because they are not responsive to the form requirement and apply to a broader group of officers and employees at the company. There are also a limited number of other companies that adopt targets for “designated groups” that may or may not include women.
Among those companies adopting targets for women executive officers, the most common target adopted was 30%, followed by 25%.
FIGURE 29
Prevalence of targets for women executive officers (all companies)
Total companies that disclosed in 2023: 559
Total companies that disclosed in 2024: 540
Total companies that disclosed in 2025: 491
Consistent with the results above and from prior years, the top reason companies gave for not adopting targets regarding the appointment of women executive officers was a desire not to compromise a focus on merit. The top five reasons given by companies that disclosed that they had not adopted a target for women executive officers are set out in Figure 30.
FIGURE 30
Top five reasons for not adopting a target for women executive officers
1. Compromises a focus on merit
2. Adequate systems already in place
3. Best candidate might not be selected
4. Gender is one of many factors considered
5. Small number of this position or low turnover
Chief executive officer and leadership roles
Only 4% of TSX-listed companies that provided full or partial diversity disclosure had a woman as their CEO. This figure represents a decrease from mid-year 2024 (4.5%) and appears to be driven primarily by turnover and changes to the companies in our data set (i.e., issuers in our data set from last year who had a woman CEO but were since taken private and issuers in our data set from last year who had a woman CEO but who had not yet provided disclosure by July 31, 2025).
Voluntary disclosure of other diversity characteristics
A number of TSX-listed companies that are not CBCA corporations chose to provide voluntary supplemental disclosure regarding the representation of visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples and persons with a disability among their executive officers. This year, we saw a decrease in the number of issuers who provided disclosure regarding the representation of such groups among executive officers on a voluntary basis. The decreased level of voluntary reporting resulted in a decrease in the number of executive officers reported as being from such groups.
| Members of visible minorities | Indigenous Peoples | Persons with disabilities | 2SLGBTQ+ | |||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | |
| Companies disclosing number of executive officers who are: | 45 | 61 | 20 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 4 | 8 |
| Number of executive officers who are: | 78 | 106 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Companies disclosing whether they have targets for executive officers who are: | 58 | 84 | 38 | 63 | 38 | 59 | 8 | 28 |
