In China, there’s a famous saying that “women hold up half the sky,” but not in the retail fashion industry, where fewer than one in five executives are women. However, the outlook for women in the fashion business could be improving. CCTV’s Shraysi Tandon reported this story from New York.

Women still struggle to reach executive positions in fashion business

In China, there’s a famous saying that “women hold up half the sky,” but not in the retail fashion industry, where fewer than one in five executives are women. However, the outlook for women in the fashion business could be improving. CCTV’s Shraysi Tandon reported this story from New York.

When Saks Fifth Avenue decided to reinvent itself, it chose a woman who quickly made it clear she was up to just about any challenge you could throw at her.

Marigay McKee is one of five women hired for top jobs at global retail brands like Saks in New York, Harrods in London, and Galleries Lafayette in Paris.

While some of the best known icons of haute couture have been women, Coco Chanel, Miuccia Prada, and Vera Wang to name just a few, they had to create brands in order to run them.

Currently, only 5 percent of women hold the position of CEO at Fortune 500 firms. And when you examine retail firms in the fashion industry, that number drops to below 2 percent.

The list of 26 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies:

Fortune 500 rank is based on 2014 edition, the most recent available.