New Delhi: More women are now occupying executive leadership positions in businesses worldwide compared to a decade ago, but these gains have not been matched by progress at lower management levels, according to a new International Labour Organisation (ILO) report released Tuesday.
The report, titled ‘Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success’, draws on three enterprise surveys conducted in 2013, 2018 and 2025. The latest survey covered nearly 12,000 enterprises across 99 countries.
According to the report, the proportion of enterprises with a woman CEO increased from 23.4 percent in 2013 to 28.2 percent in 2025—an increase of 4.8 percentage points. Gender balance also improved at senior (a 1.6 percentage-point rise) and top management levels (5 percentage-point rise) over the same period.
However, the report found that gender balance deteriorated at junior and middle management levels, declining by 1.4 and 6.4 percentage points respectively, between 2013 and 2025.
Even though gender balance has improved in top leadership positions, women remain concentrated in specific managerial functions, especially human resources, finance and administration. The report further adds that women remain under-represented in functions most closely associated with progression to executive leadership, such as profit and loss management, and research and development.
When women occupy top leadership positions, particularly at CEO and board chair levels, enterprises are also more likely to have greater gender balance. The ILO report finds, for instance, that enterprises with a female CEO are 12.6 percent more likely to have a gender-balanced workforce than those led by men. Enterprises with a female board chair are also 37.8 percent more likely to have boards with at least 30 percent women, versus those chaired by men.
The proportion of enterprises with gender-balanced workforces—defined as those with 40-60 percent representation of either gender—fell by 6.2 percentage points between 2013 and 2025. Meanwhile, the share of businesses implementing gender equality and diversity initiatives declined from 37.4 percent in 2018 to 26.5 percent in 2025.
The report specifically noted a decline in implementation of two measures identified by enterprises as among the most effective in promoting gender equality: maternity leave and support programmes (11.3 percentage-point drop), and equal pay initiatives (19.6 percentage-point decline).
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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