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CAC 40: more women, yet still absent from the very top
Beyond well-intentioned rhetoric, the feminisation of major French companies remains an unfinished project. The 2026 edition of the SKEMA Observatory on the Feminisation of Companies delivers an unvarnished assessment: while the Copé-Zimmermann and Rixain laws have driven genuine progress, women’s access to the highest executive positions remains uneven across groups. Yet the figures highlighted by Professor Michel Ferrary are unequivocal: gender diversity is a powerful lever for economic, stock market and extra-financial performance.
Governance still largely male
Women account for just 7.5% of the 80 positions of Chair or Chief Executive Officer within CAC 40 companies. No woman combines the roles of Chair and CEO. Only two women serve as Chairs of the Board and four as Chief Executive Officers, illustrating the persistence of a lock at the very top.
This situation contrasts sharply with the feminisation of boards of directors, now close to parity (45.9% women), as a direct result of the Copé-Zimmermann law. It is a textbook illustration of what the study describes as a “legislative lift”: when regulatory pressure eases, progress slows markedly.
Rixain law: visible but uneven effects
The Rixain law is nevertheless beginning to produce tangible results. In 2025, women represent 28.81% of members of CAC 40 executive committees, compared with just 6.3% in 2008. Seven companies already comply simultaneously with the requirements of both the Copé-Zimmermann and Rixain laws: Accor, BNP Paribas, Kering, Engie, Publicis, Schneider Electric and Société Générale.
The study highlights a recent turning point: feminisation no longer relies on artificially expanding executive committees, but increasingly on the progressive replacement of men by women—an indication of more structural change within certain organisations.
The glass ceiling is cracking but still very real
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 nevertheless remains significant (8.9 percentage points in 2025).
Some companies illustrate these disparities strikingly. EssilorLuxottica, with more than 50% women among its engineers and managers but none on its executive committee, embodies the thickest glass ceiling in the CAC 40. Conversely, Vinci stands out with an almost non-existent gap between its talent pool and its executive leadership, reflecting a more proportionate promotion policy.
Four diversity and inclusion models within the CAC 40
By cross-referencing workforce diversity and inclusion at the top, the SKEMA Observatory identifies four broad corporate models, revealing profoundly different governance strategies.
- “Feminine” companies, where a high proportion of women in management is naturally reflected at executive level.
- “Amazon” companies, characterised by strong inclusion at the top despite a more male-dominated talent pool.
- “Masculine” companies, where limited feminisation of executive committees reflects an internal pipeline that remains overwhelmingly male.
- Finally, “Machist” companies, using the study’s deliberately provocative terminology, have a substantial female talent pool
but fail to translate it into access to the top.
Gender diversity as a driver of economic and extra-financial performance
Beyond equality concerns, the study highlights strong correlations between feminisation and performance. The higher the level of gender diversity, particularly in middle management and across the broader workforce, the greater the operational profitability. The most gender-diverse companies report profitability levels more than twice those of the least diverse.
Financial markets confirm this trend: the most gender-balanced companies present lower investment risk, greater resilience in times of crisis and, over the long term, stronger stock market performance when diversity permeates the entire organisation.
ESG: diversity as a strategic lever for credibility
Feminisation also emerges as a key driver of ESG performance. The most gender-balanced companies display significantly lower societal and environmental risks, particularly where diversity extends to middle management and the overall workforce.
An unambiguous conclusion
“The middle management matters more than the top management. Feminisation cannot be confined to symbolic summits. It must permeate the entire organisation to generate lasting effects on performance, responsibility and value creation,” summarises Michel Ferrary.
At a time when investors, rating agencies and public authorities are tightening their ESG requirements, the message is clear: gender diversity is no longer a matter of optics—it is an economic and strategic imperative.