6 Black Women Astronauts In Space, 5 Fortune 500 CEOs On Earth (Pt. 1)

Forbes

5 days ago

African American astronaut Mae Jemison, left, smiles as suit technician Sharon McDougle performs an ... More unpressurized and pressurized leak check on her spacesuit prior to the STS-47 Spacelab-J mission on the shuttle Endeavour, at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, September 12, 1992. (Photo by NASA/)
The underrepresentation of Black women in leadership roles within corporate America is stark, as highlighted by the surprising statistic that more Black American women have traveled to space as astronauts than have led a Fortune 500 company here on Earth.
That is not a misprint.
This fact highlights the broader challenge of the underrepresentation of Black females in many aspects of American work life. However, research suggests that while most Americans support equity goals, they may overlook that organizations have made little tangible progress on the issue.
This article is the first in a three-part series that will document and analyze the issue, concluding with the third article, which will offer some solutions.
The Underrepresentation Of Black Women Fortune 500 CEOs
Recently, the media reported that tech billionaire Marc Andreessen, in a WhatsApp chat, said, 'Discrimination was now aimed at us,' apparently referring to the Black Lives Matter advocacy that arose after George Floyd's murder in May 2020. Mr. Andreessen also reportedly said, 'My people are furious and not going to take it anymore.' The main idea he seemed to be communicating was that people who look like him were being victimized, losing out in a zero-sum calculus, by 'DEI and immigration.'
Mr. Andreessen's comments, while focused on college admissions and access to tech careers, framed the creation of opportunities for others as both a general threat and a personal threat to him. In doing so, he negated the needs of those who have never had the opportunities that he, and many of those for whom he advocates, already have. Losing something differs from never having had it in the first place.
Such objections overlook the historical context of systemic disadvantage and significant underrepresentation faced by Black Americans, particularly Black women, in various sectors of American society. Disparities, rooted in the country's history of Black enslavement, persist in economics, healthcare, political representation, and psychological hurt. Disparities persist even when we narrow our focus to the workplace, and particularly if we focus on leadership roles. Data from 2023 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that Black workers comprise about 13% of the workforce but hold only 3.3% of executive-level jobs. According to McKinsey, 'At the managerial level, the Black share of the workforce declines to 7 percent. Across the senior manager, VP, and SVP levels, Black representation holds steady at 4 to 5 percent.' Black women, who account for about 7.5% of the workforce, have less than 2% of C-suite roles. And, there are only two Black women on the most recent version of the Fortune 500 CEO list, published in June 2025.
5 Black women Have Made It to the Fortune 500 CEO Role
The Fortune 500 ranks U.S. companies by revenue, and leadership roles in these organizations have a significant impact. Since Fortune began compiling the list in 1955, corporate boards have chosen fewer than 30 Black Americans to serve as the permanent CEOs of Fortune 500. In 70 years of the list's existence, only five of the chosen CEOs have been Black women.
Table with data about the 5 Black women who have held Fortune 500 CEO roles
This disparity serves as a signal of under-representation and highlights the link between diversity in leadership roles and overall organizational diversity, as McKinsey reports. A diverse executive leadership team is more likely to build a diverse workforce.
6 Black Women Have Made It To Outer Space As Astronauts
Meanwhile, in an equally elite field, space exploration, Black women have found opportunities sooner. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected only about 360 astronaut candidates since its first class of astronauts in 1959. As of this writing, the active astronaut corps is fewer than 50 people. Given the small number of openings, the high degree of specialized skills required, and the physical risks that accompany these jobs, very few people get to be called an 'astronaut.' However, NASA has selected a higher proportion of Black women astronauts; in comparison, a smaller proportion have been chosen as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Moreover, the first Black woman astronaut, Mae Jemison, went to outer space in 1992. It would be another 17 years before the first Black woman, Ursula Burns, became the CEO of Xerox, a Fortune 500 company, in 2009.
A table with data about the 6 Black women astronauts who have gone to outer spaceNote that the Black Americans Gayle King and Aisha Bowe, who were part of the recent Blue Origin private space flight, are part of a new category designated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as 'spaceflight participants or civilian space travelers,' not as 'astronauts.'
Black women in corporate America have more ambition, equal qualifications, and, in some cases, outperform their peers; yet they remain underrepresented in top leadership jobs in Fortune 500 companies. While this statement may seem startling, it underscores a broader challenge: understanding the underlying causes of these disparities.
The next article in the series, Part 2, will provide the evidence supporting that statement by examining the specific challenges and systemic decisions that contribute to the limited number of Black women reaching the top of corporate America.