Top companies for women execs

When it comes to female workforce representation and advancement programs, these companies rank the highest, according to the National Association for Female Executives.

Female executives are making progress in the workplace by gaining seats on the board and earning higher pay, particularly at these companies.

Women now comprise 40% of the highest earners on the 2015 list of Top 50 Companies for Executive Women, released by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) on Tuesday, an increase from 35% last year.

"These companies are the gold standard for promoting and advancing women," said Subha Barry, vice president and general manager at Working Mother Media, which includes NAFE.

On average, women make up 51% of the workforce at the 50 companies, a figure that hasn't budged since 2013, according to NAFE. Women in executive roles at these companies dipped to 27%, while the percentage of females holding senior manager positions ticked up to 37% in 2015.

More women are in the board room as the percentage of women-occupied seats increased to 29%.

The companies that made the list are large companies with at least two female board members. They have various workplace programs for women, and all of them offer executive coaching programs and network groups, according to NAFE.

Percentage of each group who are women

  • Organization name▼

  • Total employees▼

  • Corporate executives▼

  • Top 10% of earners▼

  • Abbott
    47%
    26%
    34%
  • Accenture
    36%
    21%
    28%
  • Aetna
    76%
    25%
    46%
  • Allstate Insurance
    57%
    21%
    39%
  • American Express
    62%
    30%
    47%
  • AstraZeneca
    54%
    24%
    33%
  • AT&T
    36%
    24%
    28%
  • Avon Products
    66%
    33%
    44%
  • Bank of America
    58%
    30%
    28%
  • Boehringer Ingelheim USA
    47%
    33%
    37%
  • Capital One Financial
    58%
    26%
    Not provided
  • Cardinal Health
    44%
    24%
    30%
  • Cisco
    26%
    22%
    15%
  • Colgate-Palmolive
    40%
    26%
    33%
  • Diageo North America
    41%
    21%
    31%
  • DigitasLBi
    55%
    28%
    32%
  • DuPont
    26%
    24%
    25%
  • Edelman
    69%
    43%
    48%
  • Eli Lilly and Company
    47%
    22%
    30%
  • Ernst & Young LLP
    46%
    32%
    28%
  • First Horizon National
    63%
    18%
    17%
  • FleishmanHillard
    66%
    46%
    42%
  • Freddie Mac
    49%
    17%
    33%
  • General Mills
    40%
    35%
    37%
  • General Motors
    24%
    21%
    21%
  • Grant Thornton
    45%
    20%
    17%
  • IBM
    30%
    26%
    20%
  • Intel
    24%
    14%
    13%
  • Johnson & Johnson
    47%
    33%
    36%
  • Kellogg
    35%
    47%
    34%
  • KPMG
    46%
    19%
    19%
  • Kraft Foods Group
    40%
    31%
    36%
  • L'Oreal USA
    64%
    37%
    49%
  • Marriott International
    54%
    34%
    47%
  • MassMutual Financial Group
    56%
    36%
    30%
  • MasterCard
    44%
    29%
    28%
  • MetLife
    53%
    13%
    36%
  • Moss Adams
    54%
    27%
    23%
  • Northern Trust
    50%
    40%
    25%
  • PNC Financial Services Group
    62%
    31%
    29%
  • Procter & Gamble
    39%
    32%
    33%
  • Prudential Financial
    51%
    24%
    31%
  • PwC
    45%
    20%
    31%
  • State Farm
    59%
    36%
    33%
  • Target
    57%
    39%
    49%
  • Texas Instruments
    22%
    19%
    12%
  • Verizon Communications
    38%
    29%
    32%
  • Viacom
    55%
    35%
    43%
  • Walmart Stores
    57%
    31%
    49%
  • Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
    72%
    47%
    72%
Source: National Association for Female Executives; Published on March 3rd, 2015 Kathryn Vasel & Tal Yellin / CNNMoney

NOTE: NAFE uses an algorithm that combines female workforce representation and advancement programs to come up with the list. To be considered, businesses have to complete an application of more than 200 questions about their workforce representation along with their implementation and use of programs that encourage female career development. Eligible companies must have 1,000 or more employees and at least two women on its board of directors.