Mary Barra, chair and chief executive officer of General Motors Co., is one of the very few female ... [ ] CEOs of a large U.S. company. Photographer: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg

Only 9% of CEOs in the largest U.S. companies are women, a startlingly small figure. But what’s even more concerning is the leadership pipeline. A new analysis reveals that few women hold the C-suite roles that typically lead to the top spot, suggesting that the number of female CEOs may remain frustratingly low for the foreseeable future. This imbalance doesn't just reflect a lack of representation at the top but also underscores deeper, systemic issues in how female leaders are developed and supported throughout their careers.

The recent analysis focused on companies in the S&P 100 index, which includes some of the largest organizations across various sectors in the U.S. It included only S&P 100 companies with at least seven executives in their C-suite, which narrowed the sample down to 97 organizations. The report, written by the leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates, offers a closer look into the gender dynamics at the highest levels at these corporate giants.

In........

© Forbes