NEW YORK -- Corporate board members welcomed more women into their ranks over the last year, but women still hold only 6.9 percent of seats on corporate boards of directors across the United States, according to a new study.
Of the 11,790 directorships in America's 1,000 leading companies, 814 were occupied by women as of March 31, the report says.
Still, that was an increase over 1993, when 721 women -- representing 6.2 percent of the 11,715 directorships that year -- sat on the powerful policy-making bodies of American corporations.
The figures were released yesterday by Catalyst, a New York City-based research group.
Membership on boards provides an opportunity to influence the direction of corporate life in America. It also confers prestige and money.