S&P Capital IQ and SNL, a business unit of McGraw Hill Financial and a leading provider of research, analytics and data, released two new reports today which each highlight significant gender gaps between male and female C-level executives in the United States. 

In the first report, How Times Have Changed? CEO Gender Gap Analysis of the S&P 500, S&P Capital IQ looked at the issue of gender gaps across the broad landscape of companies in the S&P 500. Its analysis reveals the following:

• S&P 500 Gender Gap Grew in 2015: The total number of female Chief Executive Officers of S&P 500 companies declined from 25 in 2014 to 21 in 2015. Between 2006 and 2015 year to date, the average growth rate for new female CEOs is currently one per every two years.

• IT Sector Has the Most Female CEOs: The Information Technology sector leads all industry groups with the highest number of female CEOs, five. Energy, Materials and Telecoms do not have any female CEOs in the S&P 500.

• Female CEOs Have Shorter Tenures: Male CEOs hold a median of six years in office, while female CEOs hold an average of just four years over the nine year study period.

The second report released by SNL, The $10 Billion Glass Ceiling , looks at the issue of C-level gender gaps by focusing on the U.S. banking sector specifically, an industry historically dominated by men in leadership positions. SNL's findings suggest that even when women do make it to the top positions in banking, a gender pay gap persists. Female representation in the CEO ranks remains extremely low, and when women do make it to the top, it is typically at smaller banks.

• CEO Compensation Growth Rate Nearly Double for Men: From 2007 to 2014, median total compensation for male CEOs in the banking industry climbed more than 60% cumulatively. Over the same period, median total compensation for female CEOs of banks climbed 33.44%.

• Few Female CEOs at Major Banks: Female representation in the top levels of banking, just as in other industries, remains extremely and persistently low. In 2014, of the U.S. banks that publicly file compensation data, there were 21 female CEOs in the U.S. banking industry and 568 males, according to SNL Financial's research. This is in line with research by S&P Capital IQ, which found only 21 female CEOs across the S&P 500 through 2015 year to date.

• Gender Gap Persists throughout Banking Industry C-Suite: Women have consistently held less than 4% of overall industry CEO roles over the past five years. The numbers are similarly stagnant for other C-level roles SNL examined. There were just 22 female Chief Operating Officers at public banks in 2014 and 96 Chief Financial Officers.

• More Female Leaders at Smaller Banks: When women do reach the top roles, it is typically at smaller banks. Of the 21 female CEOs, only one is at a bank larger than $10 billion in assets. With $7.1 million in total compensation in 2014, Beth Mooney at KeyCorp ($93 billion in assets) is the industry's highest-paid female CEO.