Women run 11% of Fortune 500 companies in 2025—but progress is still slow

Women run 11% of companies on the 2025 Fortune 500 list—a milestone that arrives two years after that stat crossed the stubborn 10% mark for the first time. 

The number of female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies was flat at 52 between 2023 and 2024; in 2025, it’s up to 55. 

The Fortune 500 has for 71 years ranked the largest U.S. companies by revenue. This year, the companies that make up the Fortune 500 represent $19.9 trillion in revenue and two-thirds of total U.S. GDP. At the top are giants Walmart and Amazon; the highest-ranked Fortune 500 company run by a woman is GM, at No. 18, with CEO Mary Barra. Companies can join the list of women-led Fortune 500 businesses by hiring or promoting a female CEO or becoming a Fortune 500 company; the smallest business on the Fortune 500 in 2025 has $7.4 billion in revenue. They can also leave this group by parting ways with a female CEO or falling off the Fortune 500 itself.

Six companies lost their status as women-led Fortune 500 businesses this year. Notably, CVS Health in October 2024 parted ways with CEO Karen Lynch, who led the health care business for almost four years; CVS Health, ranked at No. 5 on the Fortune 500 in 2025 with $372.8 billion in revenue, was the largest company ever led by a female CEO. Lynch’s successor was David Joyner, who previously headed the company’s pharmacy benefits business.

Duke Energy’s CEO Lynn Good retired in April after more than 20 years at the company. Lori Ryerkerk and Barbara Rentler stepped down from Celanese and Ross Stores, respectively. CEO successors at all of those businesses were men. Last month, Gina Boswell stepped down as CEO of Bath & Body Works—and the company didn’t make the Fortune 500 this year due to a drop in revenue. Neither did Clorox, which was ranked at No. 485 in 2024 and is still headed by Linda Rendle.

The cohort of female Fortune 500 CEOs also welcomes nine new faces, the majority of whom were promoted from within their companies. Freeport-McMoRan promoted CFO Kathleen Quirk to lead the company. Principal Financial and Ulta Beauty looked to their presidents and chief operating officers, Deanna Strable-Soethout and Kecia Steelman, to lead the businesses. J.B. Hunt Transport and U.S. Bancorp tapped their respective presidents Shelley Simpson and Gunjan Kedia as president and CEO. Marathon Petroleum named its executive vice president and CFO Maryann Mannen president and CEO, while Albertsons appointed executive vice president and chief operations officer Susan Morris to helm the company. In November 2024, Marina Cheung became president and CEO of S&P Global, after serving as president of S&P Global Ratings.

One business already led by a woman became a Fortune 500 company this year: SiriusXM is now on the Fortune 500 for the first time in 2025, after its September 2024 spinoff from Liberty Media, with CEO Jennifer Witz at the helm since 2021.

There are still only two Black female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies: Thasunda Brown Duckett at TIAA and Toni Townes-Whitley at Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC. Other women of color who lead Fortune 500 companies include AMD chief Lisa Su and Fannie Mae president and CEO Priscilla Almodovar.

While this year’s increase in representation is important to acknowledge and celebrate, “the pace of change remains stubbornly slow,” says Jennifer McCollum, president and CEO of Catalyst, a workplace gender equity organization. “This minor uptick, while positive, is not a signal that we can ease off our efforts; if anything, it shows the deep-seated nature of the barriers that still exist.”

As the U.S. has witnessed sweeping changes and eliminations to DEI programming at large corporations, the landscape for women in business has grown increasingly complex. “If companies reduce their commitment to these policies, there is great risk of progress stalling or even reversing, impacting opportunities for generations of talent to come,” McCollum says.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com