Companies included in the MSCI World index report, on average, 30% more women in executive teams in their annual/ESG reports than they list on their official websites. This discrepancy, which we term the “Executive Gender Reporting Gap,” highlights significant inconsistencies between corporate disclosures that are meant for investors and those designed for public audiences. Our analysis enables researchers and asset managers to identify these gaps and question the reliability of different data sources.
Lack of consistency across sources
Only 4.6% of companies report the exact same number of women in executive roles across both their official reports and websites, a misalignment that persists across regions, except in South America and Africa.
Systematic overstatement in formal reporting
Aside from the exceptions noted, companies consistently list more female executives in their ESG or annual reports compared to their websites across all other regions. This pattern suggests a potential bias toward presenting stronger gender diversity in reporting aimed at investors or sustainability stakeholders.
Call to action
By collecting diversity data from all public sources, annual/ESG reports, websites, filings, awards submissions and more, Denominator offers a holistic view of executive gender representation This multi-source approach uncovered the 30% reporting gap: companies list more women in ESG disclosures than on their websites.
Conclusion
The 30% reporting gap underscores how source granularity drives reliability. Denominator’s multi-source DEI dataset offers asset managers and analysts the rigor they need—enabling confident investment decisions, accurate benchmarking, and ESG strategies with depth and accountability.
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