CAC 40: more women, but still not at the top

Driven by the Copé-Zimmermann and Rixain laws, progress is visible. Yet it remains uneven across groups. The figures leave little room for doubt: gender diversity is a powerful lever of economic, stock market and extra-financial performance.

Governance still largely male

Women hold 7.5% of the 80 chair and chief executive positions within the CAC 40. None combines the roles of chair and chief executive. Only two women serve as chairs of boards and four as chief executives, illustrating the persistence of a bottleneck at the top.

This contrasts sharply with boards of directors, which are now close to parity, with 45.9% women, under the direct impact of the Copé-Zimmermann law. The study refers to a “legislative lift”: when regulatory pressure eases, progress slows.

The Rixain law: visible effects

The Rixain law is beginning to deliver results. In 2025, women account for 28.81% of executive committee members across the CAC 40, compared with 6.3% in 2008.

Seven companies already comply simultaneously with the Copé-Zimmermann and Rixain requirements: Accor, BNP Paribas, Kering, Engie, Publicis, Schneider Electric and Société Générale.

A shift is under way: feminisation no longer relies on artificially expanding executive committees, but on the gradual replacement of men by women, pointing to a deeper structural change.

A glass ceiling that is cracking

The glass ceiling, measured by the gap between the proportion of women among engineers and managers and their share on executive committees, has been divided by 2.5 since 2008. It remains significant at 8.9 percentage points in 2025.

Some companies highlight these contrasts. EssilorLuxottica counts more than 50% women among engineers and managers, yet none on its executive committee. By contrast, Vinci shows an almost non-existent gap between its talent pool and executive leadership.

Four models of diversity

By cross-referencing workforce diversity and inclusion at the top, the Observatory identifies four broad corporate models:

“Feminine” companies, where women’s presence in management is reflected at executive level, such as AXA, L'Oréal and Sanofi.

“Amazon” companies, characterised by strong inclusion at the top despite a more male-dominated talent pool, including Air Liquide and Orange.

“Masculine” companies, where low feminisation of executive committees reflects a predominantly male internal pipeline, such as Airbus and TotalEnergies.

Companies labelled “machist”, which have a substantial female talent pool but fail to translate it into executive inclusion.

Diversity and performance: a strong correlation

The study reveals clear links between gender diversity and performance. The higher the level of diversity, particularly within middle management, the stronger the operating profitability. The most feminised companies report operating margins more than twice as high as those of the least feminised. Financial markets confirm this trend: more diverse companies display lower investment risk and greater resilience during periods of crisis.

ESG: a strategic lever

Gender diversity also emerges as a key driver of ESG performance. The most diverse companies report significantly lower societal and environmental risks, particularly where diversity extends beyond symbolic leadership roles to middle management and the wider workforce.

As Michel Ferrary concludes:

“Middle management matters more than top management. Feminisation cannot be confined to symbolic leadership positions. It must permeate the entire organisation to generate lasting effects on performance, responsibility and value creation.”

At a time when investors, rating agencies and public authorities are tightening ESG requirements, the message is clear: gender diversity is no longer optional. It is an economic and strategic imperative.

Read more about the study