LeanIn and McKinsey have published their annual report Report on women in the world of workand while there are clear signs of progress, women also face major obstacles.
The percentage of women CEOs at Fortune 500 companies has doubled from 5% a decade ago, when LeanIn and McKinsey began writing this report, to 10% today. Companies are now offering significantly more benefits in terms of work-life balance than five years ago: in 2024, 92% of companies offered paid maternity leave and 86% offered paid paternity leave, compared to 2018, when 78% of companies offered paid maternity leave and 70% offered paid paternity leave.
“We’re seeing progress, but it’s pretty fragile,” says Sheryl Sandberg, founder and board chair of LeanIn. Based on the current pace of change, the report finds that it will take white women 22 years and women of color 48 years to reach parity in the workforce.
Sandberg’s main concern, as revealed by the data in the LeanIn and McKinsey report, is the lack of women who are likely to be promoted to leadership positions. “Companies have added women to leadership positions, but if you look at where the CEO pipeline is, you still don’t see it.”
While women have made it to the top, they disproportionately oversee personnel functions, such as legal and human resources, she says. The problem, she says, is that there aren’t enough women in roles directly tied to the production side of companies, such as product managers, and those are the positions most likely to be promoted to CEO.
“Where is the CEO pipeline?” You still don’t see it.
Sheryl Sandberg
Founder and Chairman of the Board of LeanIn
The Women in the Workplace report highlights the problem of broken ranks and the fact that women, particularly black women, are missing out on the first promotion to manager. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women are promoted. That number is lower for Latina and black women (65 and 54 for every 100 men, respectively).
The gender gap has widened in recent years, reaching levels not seen since 2019, when 79 women were promoted to entry-level management positions for every 100 men. Managerial support is weaker for women of color: Less than half of women say they receive the support they need from managers to succeed, and women of color receive even less.
At the same time, commitment to programs that advance women, particularly women of color, is declining. The entire DEI sector is now facing some challengesand we know that a lot of companies are cutting back on their DEI programs. I think there’s more politics around that,” Sandberg says. “I think the message needs to be that (invest in) diversity “It’s not the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do.”
“It’s not just to feel good,” she continues. “It’s because your results will be better” . “
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