Over the past decade, women have made gains at every stage of the corporate pipeline, particularly in senior leadership. However, progress remains fragile and at risk, especially for women of color, according to a major study on women in corporate America and Canada.
The 10th annual Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org finds that women today hold 29% of C-suite positions, up from 17% in 2015. The report notes that "progress is not the same as parity" and based on the current rate of progress, it will take decades to achieve gender parity for all women in corporate America.
While overall gains have been made by women, women of color represent only 7% of C-suite positions and have been mostly left behind. White men are most represented at every level of leadership, while Black women, Asian women, or Latinas are least represented.
Latinas are identified as the most underrepresented group in the C-suite. Although they make up 9.6% of the population, they constitute only 1.4% of C-suite positions. At this rate, it will take women of color 48 years—or two generations—to reach parity and white women 22 years.
In response to this report, the New Jersey Women Business Leaders Forum (NJBIA) will host a two-day conference in Atlantic City on Sept. 25-26 aimed at inspiring and empowering professional women to build successful businesses and increase diversity in corporate leadership.
The report highlights ongoing challenges such as the “broken rung” phenomenon where entry-level men are promoted to manager at much higher rates than their female counterparts. This causes early career setbacks for women that persist throughout their careers.
The findings show that "for every 100 men who received the first promotion to manager," only "81 women received the same opportunity." For Black women and Latinas, these numbers drop further with just "54 Black women" and "65 Latinas" receiving promotions compared to their male counterparts.
Companies have implemented more practices to make hiring and performance reviews fairer but need bolder steps due to persistent issues like the broken rung phenomenon. The report indicates a decline in resources allocated toward women's advancement programs such as mentorships and internships specifically geared toward them.
Only "16% of companies offer formal sponsorship programs with specific content for women," down from previous years; similarly, there has been a reduction in recruitment programs focused on women's advancement.
Despite expansions in work-life benefits like parental leave and medical benefits for fertility treatments or adoption/surrogacy support, corporate commitment to gender diversity has waned. In 2024, "78% of companies say gender diversity is a high priority," down from previous years; racial diversity also saw a decline with only "69%" prioritizing it highly compared to earlier figures.
The McKinsey research is based on data from over 1,000 participating companies involving more than 480,000 people surveyed between 2015-2024. This year's edition draws insights from over 280 companies employing over ten million people along with surveys from more than fifteen thousand employees including diverse identities such as LGBTQ+ individuals and those with disabilities.
