The pursuit of a gender-balanced workforce isn’t just a random ideal listed in companies’ vision and values statements – research has shown that gender parity leads to higher profitability for companies. So today, let’s talk about women in the workforce.
Women in leadership
Although 92.7% of mid-market firms still have active diversity and inclusion initiatives, the 2026 Women in Business report shows that women’s representation in senior leadership at U.S. companies is slipping: “Women now hold 31% of senior leadership roles in the U.S, down from 34% in 2025 and 35% in 2024.”
However, not every industry is making progress at the same rates. While some sectors are closer to achieving gender parity – such as education with 46% female leadership in 2022 – others are further behind, like energy and manufacturing, which had 20% and 19% female leadership, respectively, in the same year. Even industries that have a high rate of women across all roles still show a gap when it comes to the rate at which women are represented in leadership roles. For example, a 2022 report found that while women accounted for 62% of the Personal Services and Wellbeing industry workforce, they held only 45% of leadership positions. These trends are observed not just in the U.S. but across the world.
Corporate priorities
While gender diversity and women’s career advancement were recently high priorities for many companies, the current trend appears to be an overall decreased focus on such initiatives. In one survey, 1 in 5 companies reported eliminating DEI programs since the 2024 election. This has directly impacted hiring, with 57% of respondents reporting a decrease in hiring underrepresented groups in the same survey, including a 37% decrease in hiring women of color and 13% decrease in hiring white women.
While corporations have historically kept a pulse on the current political climate and adapted alongside it, there is still a strong financial case for why a company should pursue a diverse workforce. In McKinsey’s 2023 diversity report, it was found that “companies in the top quartile for board-gender diversity [those which have representation of women exceeding 30%] are 27% more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile.” Another study by BlackRock that examined 1,250 of the largest companies globally found the ones with the best gender parity achieved a 7.7% average annual return on assets, while companies with the highest share of men landed at 5.6%.
When looking at start-ups, female CEOs delivered more than twice as much return on investment as male CEOs. Despite the fact that companies founded or co-founded by women receive less than half of the funding that male-founded companies receive on average, they generate “10% more in cumulative revenue over a five-year period.”
Ongoing challenges
Although gender parity can be financially beneficial for companies, women still face obstacles in the workplace, including reduced pay. In addition, compared to their male counterparts, women typically receive fewer professional development opportunities – referred to as the “gender training gap” – and are less likely to be promoted. Although some studies have noted an “ambition gap” between men and women, this is likely an effect of the overall issue, since it’s been shown when “women receive the same career support that men do, they are just as interested in advancing.”
Cultural perceptions and social influences also play a factor. Norms are often reinforced during childhood, where girls are more likely to be discouraged from taking risks than boys, which may lead to gaps in self-confidence and being less likely to see themselves as leaders. For example, when looking at start-ups, men reportedly tend to “overpitch and oversell,” while women are more likely to be modest in their pitches and feel the need to prove their expertise. As one woman co-founder stated, “When I pitch with [male co-founder], they always assume he knows the technology, so they ask him all the technical questions.”
These issues each contribute to what is called the “broken rung,” where women fall behind men in climbing up the corporate ladder. This is observed at the first managerial role and widens as the levels advance, signaling a need to “tackle parity in leadership from the bottom up, rather than only from the top down.”
