One in four Americans believe humans will able to time travel before half of Fortune 500companies are led by women.
That’s according to a survey released from the Rockefeller Foundation on Tuesday, which also found that male attitudes are keeping women from getting ahead at work.
According to the survey, titled “Women in Leadership: Tackling Corporate Culture from the Top,” 65% said the attitudes of men in top leadership positions are a barrier to female leadership. And women seem to agree.
A whopping 90% of women surveyed said that the attitudes of men across a company play a role in how many women make it to the top. That’s compared to 49% of men who said the same.
To obtain these results, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Strategy Group conducted a national poll of 1,010 adults age 18 and older in May.
But this isn’t the only factor that’s preventing women from reaching the corner office. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed said that the “persistent perception” that women prioritize family over career advancement is also a component. Women who are mid-career feel this the most. According to the survey, 83% agreed that women are seen this way.
Interestingly, nearly all of men and women surveyed (91% and 97%, respectively) believe that women are just as qualified as men to lead businesses. But at the same time, nearly all agreed that it’s easier for men to reach top leadership positions than equally qualified women (83% agree, according to the survey, while 44% strongly agree).
It’s important to keep in mind that the survey is not intended to blame men, Laura Gordon, a managing director at the Rockefeller Foundation who worked on the survey, told the Huffington Post. Rather, since men make up the majority of leadership positions at U.S. corporations, “they’ll have to provide the opportunities for women to rise up through the pipeline,” she said.
Indeed, there are just 32 female CEOs in the Fortune 500, or exactly 6.4%. While that’s an historic high, that number has never increased above that mark since the list was first published in 1955.
What’s more, these companies also struggle with racial diversity. White men comprised a staggering 72% of corporate leadership positions at 16 Fortune 500 companies in 2017.
