The percentage of Minnesota women in corporate leadership remains below the national average, according to the 2022 Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership report released this week. The report called Minnesota’s lack of women executives “embarrassing.”

The yearly report produced by St. Catherine University examines women’s representation at Minnesota’s largest publicly traded companies. Women make up only 22.7% of executive officers at 78 Minnesota Census companies, a percentage that’s remained stagnant for four years and below the national average of 25%. Of the companies in the Census, 17 have no women executives at all. That equates to 22% of all the companies surveyed. What’s more, seven of those companies have not had women executive officers for at least five years.

“Unlike past years, where this report celebrated the continuous – albeit marginal – gains made by women on both boards of directors and in executive officer roles, this report will focus on Minnesota Census companies’ inability to keep pace with national benchmarks for women occupying executive officer positions, leaving Minnesota in an embarrassing position,” the report’s authors wrote.

Still, it’s worth noting that a handful of companies added women to their executive teams: 3M, Ecolab, and H. B. Fuller. However, these gains were overshadowed in this year’s report by the loss or removal of women in the C-suite at 13 Minnesota census companies. That included large, prominent companies like Graco, Pentair, Regis, Target Corp., Xcel Energy, and UnitedHealth Group.

Six women executives took positions elsewhere. Two women retired, with one replaced by a man and the other position remaining unfilled. But others lost their executive title when seven companies “restructured their leadership teams,” according to the St. Catherine summary. While five women were declassified in this way, no executive men were.

The St. Catherine report pointed to the 2023 McKinsey & Co. report Breaking Up To Break Through to cite multiple reasons for this turnover in the C-suite. Women reported a greater number of microaggressions, for instance, which undermined their authority. They also reported an ongoing lack of recognition for their accomplishments, citing unintentional bias, which began early in their career and compounded over time, resulting in fewer promotions. The McKinsey report calls this the “broken rung of the ladder” as it compounds over time and presents an ongoing roadblock. Lastly, the McKinsey report states that, because of the pandemic, many women executives are leaving in search of a work culture that values flexibility and employee well-being.

“These findings point to an obvious step that Minnesota companies can take to rectify women’s underrepresentation in executive officer roles,” the Census report states, adding that efforts can start with a thorough review of promotion data by gender at each rung of the ladder, along with a review of policies addressing flexible work.

It is important to also note that these shortfalls in representation are far more pronounced when it comes to BIPOC executives. BIPOC women executives represented only 2.2% of leadership of Minnesota Census companies. That’s half the 5% national average.

While women’s representation in executive positions is dismal in the state, progress has been made in Minnesota Census boards of directors, according to the report. Women board members made up 28.2% last year, an increase of 1.6%. This is on par with the national benchmark for 28% set by the Russell 3000.

This year, the Census leadership team set an honor roll benchmark at 29% women on boards and 23% women in executive offices. Of the 78 companies included in the Census, these made the honor roll: