Women-Led Public Companies Remain Scant Amid Growing Industry Progress

Despite making strides in various industries, women remain underrepresented as founders of publicly traded companies. According to The Story Exchange, only 46 public companies have been founded or co-founded by women, out of thousands worldwide.

The numbers are even more alarming when considering the limited representation of women leaders in CEO positions. While over 40 companies on the S&P 500 have female CEOs, this accounts for just 8% of total companies.

Experts point to investor bias and a flawed market system as contributing factors to the lack of women founders. To address this issue, researchers at The Story Exchange created their own list of public companies founded or co-founded by women, which has grown recently with the debut of Reformation, a women's clothing retailer.

One notable example is Cisco Systems, founded in 1987 by Sandy Lerner and her ex-husband Leonard Bosack. The company made routers and other networking hardware and had an IPO date of February 16, 1990.