Women in Nutraceuticals Releases Findings of Industry Leadership Survey
05.09.23
The data, unveiled at Vitafoods Europe, highlights that work is needed to achieve gender parity for leadership positions in the nutraceuticals space.
Women in Nutraceuticals (WIN), a nonprofit spearheaded by a cohort of global nutraceutical leaders, released benchmark data from its Gender Representation in Nutraceutical Industry Leadership survey. The findings were first presented at Vitafoods Europe in Geneva.
The study confirmed that representation within senior leadership positions has not achieved gender parity. By and large, smaller organizations had greater female representation in leadership positions, with 48% of companies with greater than $10 million in annual sales. However, only 36% of medium size companies, and only 34% of companies with annual sales in excess of $100 million had women in senior leadership positions.
There was less variation when it came to board members. Companies under $10 million reported 25% female representation on board membership, while those over $100 million reported 22%.
Ethnic representation in the C-suite is 71% White, 16% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% Black, and 4% Latin. The research, conducted by NEXT with financial support from Informa, included companies in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
The closest industry in comparison is pharmaceuticals and medical products, where women make up 39% of VP roles, 34% of SVPs, and 28% of C-suite, according to McKinsey & Company’s ‘Women in the Workplace 2022’ report. Those figures are slightly higher than corporate figures overall, which put representation of women at the VP level at 32%, SVP at 28%, and C-suite at 26%. Further, for every 100 men, only 87 women are promoted from entry-level to manager, so early promotions have a substantial relevance.
With 37% of senior leadership roles being held by women, the nutraceuticals industry is ahead of the corporate curve.
WIN noted several studies which concluded that there is significant business benefit to gender parity, such as research by McKinsey & Co which found a 48% performance differential between the most and least gender-diverse companies in executive leadership. According to Harvard Business Review, there was a 21% increased likelihood a company would report above-average profitability for gender-diverse executive teams.
WIN will use the information and interviews with members and sponsors to set goals on numbers of women in senior leadership and the C-suite, as well as programming and tools to help them get there. Further information about the survey results and opportunities ahead are available in a new whitepaper which is free to WIN members.
The study confirmed that representation within senior leadership positions has not achieved gender parity. By and large, smaller organizations had greater female representation in leadership positions, with 48% of companies with greater than $10 million in annual sales. However, only 36% of medium size companies, and only 34% of companies with annual sales in excess of $100 million had women in senior leadership positions.
There was less variation when it came to board members. Companies under $10 million reported 25% female representation on board membership, while those over $100 million reported 22%.
Ethnic representation in the C-suite is 71% White, 16% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% Black, and 4% Latin. The research, conducted by NEXT with financial support from Informa, included companies in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
The closest industry in comparison is pharmaceuticals and medical products, where women make up 39% of VP roles, 34% of SVPs, and 28% of C-suite, according to McKinsey & Company’s ‘Women in the Workplace 2022’ report. Those figures are slightly higher than corporate figures overall, which put representation of women at the VP level at 32%, SVP at 28%, and C-suite at 26%. Further, for every 100 men, only 87 women are promoted from entry-level to manager, so early promotions have a substantial relevance.
With 37% of senior leadership roles being held by women, the nutraceuticals industry is ahead of the corporate curve.
WIN noted several studies which concluded that there is significant business benefit to gender parity, such as research by McKinsey & Co which found a 48% performance differential between the most and least gender-diverse companies in executive leadership. According to Harvard Business Review, there was a 21% increased likelihood a company would report above-average profitability for gender-diverse executive teams.
WIN will use the information and interviews with members and sponsors to set goals on numbers of women in senior leadership and the C-suite, as well as programming and tools to help them get there. Further information about the survey results and opportunities ahead are available in a new whitepaper which is free to WIN members.
