The Women in America's Kitchen

Ilene Gordon has been named the new chairwoman and CEO of Corn Products International (CPO), continuing what seems to be a trend of women heading major food companies.

It was enough for Greg Burns of the Chicago Tribune to take note and ask, "Is it something about the food industry?"

Maybe. The food industry does seem to employ more female CEOs than most other industries—especially, for some reason, in Illinois—headquarters of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Kraft (KFT), Sara Lee (SLE), and Corn Products International, all headed by women.

Still, a look through the Fortune 1000 shows that even in food, women chiefs make up a small minority. No big grocery chains are headed by women, for example, nor are any of the eight big food wholesalers or the eight big beverage companies. Among the 10 top restaurant chains, just one, Jack in the Box (JACK), has a woman—Linda Lang—in charge. (Kerrii Anderson ran Wendy's International for a short period until its merger last year with Triarc to form Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN).)

It's true that the top three "food consumer products" companies in the Fortune 1000 are headed by women, but none of the bottom 17 are. (PepsiCo (PEP) is run by Indra Nooyi; Kraft by Irene Rosenfeld; and Sara Lee by Brenda Barnes.)

Gordon told Burns that it's a "coincidence" that women are relatively well-represented in her industry. "We're finally coming into our own in having significant operating experience in many different areas. Food is just one sector that has talented women. The pipeline, I think, is increasing."

But Jenny Hoobler, a business professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, responded that if it were simply a pipeline issue, "we would have seen women assuming these roles 10 or even 20 years ago. I'd like to see it as a trend, but it's not happening."

Actually, it does seem to be happening. Just very slowly.