New Delhi: Women account for only around 12 percent of managerial positions in India, compared with 20 percent in Asia and the Pacific and 30.5 percent globally, according to an International Labour Organization (ILO) report released Tuesday.
The report, titled ‘Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success’, draws on national labour force and household surveys, alongside findings from a 2025 enterprise survey covering nearly 12,000 businesses across 99 countries.
According to ILO’s modelled estimates, women’s share of managerial positions globally increased from 24.5 percent in 2000 to 30.5 percent in 2025. Progress in Asia and the Pacific has been considerably slower, with women’s representation increasing from 16.2 percent to 20 percent over the same period.
India’s figure, based on 2024 data presented in the report’s country-level annex, is lower still, with women accounting for only a little over one in ten managerial positions.
The report also documents instances of Indian businesses improving women’s representation. In a case study of advertising and media group Havas India, the ILO found that women’s share of the company’s workforce more than doubled from 19 percent in 2020 to 43 percent in 2025. Women also accounted for half of its leadership positions in 2025.
These gains coincided with rapid expansion at Havas India, where employment increased from fewer than 300 to more than 2,000 over the same period. The company introduced several initiatives aimed at improving gender representation, including data-driven workforce reviews and measures to address gender bias in recruitment and compensation.
Among these was its six-month Maternity Bounce Back programme, which offered flexible arrangements for women returning from maternity leave. Between 2022 and 2025, 71 percent of employees who took maternity leave remained with the company for at least a year after returning to work.
Profiling the company’s approach, the report noted that Havas India had set up an internal committee of 12 leaders in 2020, including the CEO and 10 women, to “spearhead change” across the organisation.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)