While women have made advancements when it comes to capturing the C-suite, the progress remains sluggish—currently only 4 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a woman CEO. Fortunately, the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), a branch of Working Mother Media, has been fighting for women's advancement in the workplace since 1972, providing female executives, professionals and business owners accross the country with the resources to gain career and personal success.

As one of the largest U.S. associations for women professionals and business owners, NAFE shows its commitment to advancing women in business by providing valuable education, networking opportunities and public advocacy to its members. Furthering this advocacy, Working Mother magazine and NAFE select and present the Top 50 Companies for Executive Women each year. These companies, along with the Top 10 Nonprofits, will be honored on Wednesday, March 20, at a Gala Awards Luncheon at Cipriani in New York City.

To be considered for the Top 50 Companies for Executive Women, companies must provide information on female representation at all levels as well as data on corporate officer and profit-and-loss leadership ranks. Important points examined are how these companies train managers to help women advance and how those managers are held accountable for the advancement of female employees they oversee. This year’s winners, including Abbott, General Mills and Johnson & Johnson, have all created cultures that identify, promote and nurture successful women.

Along with the awards presentations, attendees will be treated to a keynote speech on the current state of women in business by Melanie Verveer, executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and former Global Ambassador for Women’s Issues in the State Department. An invite-only Advancement of Women Roundtable for representatives of winning companies in the morning, and a silent auction with proceeds benefitting NAFE Women’s Foundation, a global women’s philanthropic organization, round out the day.

For more information on NAFE and its various initiatives, visit the website here.