Passage 31
The number of women directors appointed to corpo-
rate boards in the United States has increased dramati-
cally, but the ratio of female to male directors remains
low. Although pressure to recruit women directors,
(5) unlike that to employ women in the general work force,
does not derive from legislation, it is nevertheless real.
Although small companies were the first to have
women directors, large corporations currently have a
higher percentage of women on their boards. When the
(10) chairs of these large corporations began recruiting
women to serve on boards, they initially sought women
who were chief executive officers (CEO’s) of large corpo-
rations. However, such women CEO’s are still rare. In
addition, the ideal of six CEO’s (female or male ) serving
(15)on the board of each of the largest corporations is realiz-
able only if every CEO serves on six boards. This raises
the specter of director overcommitment and the resultant
dilution of contribution. Consequently, the chairs next
sought women in business who had the equivalent of
(20)CEO experience. However, since it is only recently that
large numbers of women have begun to rise in manage-
ment, the chairs began to recruit women of high achieve-
ment outside the business world. Many such women are
well known for their contributions in government,
(25)education, and the nonprofit sector. The fact that the
women from these sectors who were appointed were
often acquaintances of the boards’ chairs seems quite
reasonable: chairs have always considered it important