Are 91 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs in the United States white men? Laura Mather wrote on Huff Post: > Let’s start with the numbers: women represent about 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Minorities represent approximately 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Therefore, only 9 percent of the biggest companies in the U.S. have CEOs who are not white men. > > ... > > Gender and racial diversity are still grievously lacking across all sectors of the United States, and that is not going to change by asking the minority to “lean in”. Instead, let’s reroute that guidance to the 91 percent of leaders in the workforce who are white men, and place that responsibility in the power of the majority. Is it true that 91 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs in the United States are white men?

The answer depends on the definition of white people. The Census Bureau of the United States define white people as follows:

> "White" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as "White" or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan or Caucasian.

According to the above definition, the claim is true. But many of the groups included in the above definition are not considered white by other definitions. For example, Wikipedia defines white people as:

> White people is a racial classification specifier, used for people of Europid ancestry, with the exact implications dependent on context. The contemporary usage of "white people" or a "white race" as a large group of (mainly European) populations contrasting with "black", American Indian (sometimes called red), "colored" or non-white originated in the 17th century.