Women in leadership: where things stand and 18 things companies can do
Four numbers with their sources, the barriers research keeps finding, and a practical list for HR and managers. Plus a pipeline check you can run on your own data.
Women in leadership is a pipeline question more than a top-job question. Women make up a large share of US managers, yet far fewer reach the corner office, and the gap opens at the first promotion. This guide sets out where things stand, what the research says holds women back, and 18 things a company can change, from how promotions are decided to who gets the visible projects.
Women in leadership by the numbers
Four figures, each from the publisher's own page. Check the source before you quote one; new editions come out every year.
- 41.8%
of people employed in US management occupations are women (2025 annual averages).
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey - 56
women lead Fortune 500 companies in 2026, a record, and 11.2% of the list.
Source: Fortune, June 3, 2026 - 93
women were promoted to manager for every 100 men in the 2025 report: the first step up is where the gap opens.
Source: Women in the Workplace 2025, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey - 31%
of entry-level women have a sponsor, compared with 45% of men at their level (2025 report).
Source: Women in the Workplace 2025, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey
The barriers women face on the way to leadership
Six patterns from the research, all from the Women in the Workplace 2025 report except the third. They sit in how companies promote and support people, not in the women going through it.
- The broken rung. The first promotion to manager is where women fall behind, and the gap compounds at every level above it.
- Less sponsorship and advocacy. Entry-level women are less likely to be put up for promotion or introduced to someone who can help their career.
- Overmentored, undersponsored. High-potential women had mentors, but fewer had senior people using their influence to get them promoted. Source: Harvard Business Review, September 2010
- A penalty for flexibility. Women who work mostly remotely are less likely to have a sponsor than women on site, and coworkers often assume women on flexible schedules are less productive.
- Unequal support, not lower ambition. Women are less likely than men to say they want the next promotion, but the gap falls away when they get the same career support.
- Doubts that the process is fair. Entry- and mid-level women are much less likely than other employees to believe opportunities are fair where they work.
Bias in reviews and hiring shows up in small, everyday moments; these unconscious bias examples help managers spot them.
Sponsorship vs mentorship: the difference that gets people promoted
Mentoring programs are common. Fewer companies ask senior leaders to spend their influence, which is what moves careers.
| Mentor | Sponsor | |
|---|---|---|
| What they give | Advice, feedback and perspective | Advocacy: they put your name forward |
| Where it happens | In conversations with you | In rooms you are not in |
| What it costs them | Time | Some of their own reputation |
| How you know it worked | You see your options more clearly | You got the role or the project |
In a 2010 Harvard Business Review article built on a survey of MBA graduates, Herminia Ibarra, Nancy Carter and Christine Silva found high-potential women were “overmentored and undersponsored” relative to their male peers. Source: Harvard Business Review, September 2010
18 ways to support women in the workplace
Sorted by where the change happens. Start with the first group: promotion decisions are where the numbers move.
Promotions and pay
- Fix the first promotion. Track who is nominated for manager each cycle, by gender, and ask why whenever the slate is lopsided.
- Write promotion criteria down before the cycle starts. Define ready in things people can see someone do, so a vague sense of presence never decides it alone.
- Decide promotions as a panel. At least two people with different vantage points sign off on every promotion, using the written criteria.
- Check pay at every promotion. Make sure a newly promoted woman lands where the band says, not just a set raise on top of an older, lower salary.
- Publish the job ladder. Everyone can see the levels, what each one requires and how people move between them.
Sponsorship and development
- Make sponsorship part of a senior leader's job. Each executive sponsors at least one high-potential woman by name, and it shows up in their own goals and review.
- Track who gets the high-profile projects. Keep a list of the most visible projects each quarter and check who got them before you assign the next round.
- Open a manager-readiness track before the first promotion. Let anyone who wants to manage people practice it first: leading a project, onboarding a new hire, running a meeting.
- Fund real leadership development. Give women in leadership programs a budget, protected hours and a sponsor waiting back at work.
- Start peer circles. Groups of six to eight women at similar levels meet monthly to work through real problems together.
Flexible work
- Rate results, not hours seen. Train managers to judge output, so people on flexible or remote schedules are not marked down for being less visible.
- Give remote women the same sponsor time. Remote and hybrid staff get the same check-ins, introductions and project slates as the people in the office.
- Plan the return from leave. A phased return and a career conversation within the first month back after parental or caregiving leave.
Visibility and culture
- Let people present their own work. When a project goes to senior leaders, the person who did it presents it, not their manager.
- Credit ideas to the person who raised them. Set a meeting norm against interrupting, and have the chair name who first made a point when it gets repeated.
- Back a women's employee resource group. Give it a budget, an executive sponsor and a direct line to leadership, not just a channel.
- Put women leaders on the stage. Invite women leaders from inside and outside the company to all-hands meetings, panels and lunch and learns all year.
- Ask, then report back. Survey people at every level on whether opportunities feel fair, publish what you heard and what will change.
Setting up the group in point 16? Our guide to employee resource groups covers charters, budgets and sponsors. For the broader case, see the benefits of diversity in the workplace.
Women in leadership training and programs: what good ones include
Whether you build one or send people to an outside course, check for these six things.
- A sponsor, not only a coach. Each participant is paired with a senior leader who will advocate for them.
- Real work. A live project that senior leaders will see, not a case study that ends with the course.
- A cross-functional cohort. Peers from other teams, who become each other's network for years.
- Protected time. Managers agree up front which hours come off the day job.
- Outcomes you track. Promotions and retention of participants over the next two years, compared with peers.
- A loop back to the system. What participants run into feeds changes to promotion and review processes.
For individual skills like speaking up in meetings, pair the program with our guide to confidence at work.
Check your own pipeline: 8 questions
Answer these with your HR data before you design anything. They show where your own gap opens.
1. What share of last cycle's manager promotions went to women, compared with their share of the people eligible?
2. How many women were nominated for promotion, not only promoted?
3. At which level does the share of women drop the most?
4. Who led the five most visible projects this year?
5. Which senior leaders actively sponsor someone, and whom?
6. Do promoted women and men land at the same pay for the same level?
7. Are women who work mostly remotely promoted at the same rate as women in the office?
8. Who left in the last year, at which level, and what reasons did they give?
1. What share of last cycle's manager promotions went to women, compared with their share of the people eligible? 2. How many women were nominated for promotion, not only promoted? 3. At which level does the share of women drop the most? 4. Who led the five most visible projects this year? 5. Which senior leaders actively sponsor someone, and whom? 6. Do promoted women and men land at the same pay for the same level? 7. Are women who work mostly remotely promoted at the same rate as women in the office? 8. Who left in the last year, at which level, and what reasons did they give?
Run the same check every year and share the trend with your leadership team. To hear from people before they leave, ask whether opportunities feel fair in a short survey: our Intelligence tool sends any survey by email, people answer in the browser with no account, and AI summarizes the answers.
Events for International Women's Day and Women's History Month
International Women's Day is March 8, and March is Women's History Month in the US. Use them to make the year-round work visible.
- A team game: Women’s History Trivia & Games is a 60-minute hosted event with trivia and games on influential women, historic events and gender equality milestones, and teams that rotate each round. More picks on our heritage month events page and in the Women’s History Month collection.
- A skills session: Speak Up! is a hands-on public speaking workshop on structuring a message and delivering it with confidence. The Art of Self-Leadership covers setting meaningful goals and getting past self-doubt, and The Power Of Vulnerability reframes vulnerability as a leadership strength. All are in our lunch and learn lineup.
- Each runs live on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request). Book about 2 weeks ahead, and teams split across time zones can have it run as two sessions. More ideas in Women’s History Month at work.
Four hosted sessions, with today’s price.
Send your date and headcount and get a free quote. We reply within 24 hours. Looking for stories to share? Our list of great leaders in history includes 18 women, and the qualities of a good leader guide covers the habits behind them.
