McKinsey and LeanIn have released a special 10th Anniversary version of their annual Women in the Workplace report and, sadly, women continue to face significant barriers to advancement. At the current rate of progress, it will take 22 years for white women to reach parity with men--and an astounding 48 years for women of color. (Parity here refers to percentage representation of women in SVP and C-suite roles.)
Per McKinsey, "Women continue to face barriers at the beginning of the pipeline. They remain less likely than men to be hired into entry-level roles, which leaves them underrepresented from the start. Then, women are far less likely than men to attain their very first promotion to a manager role—a situation that’s not improving. In 2018, for every 100 men who received their first promotion to manager in 2018, 79 women were promoted; this year, just 81 women were. Because of this “broken rung” in the corporate ladder, men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, making it incredibly difficult for companies to support sustained progress at more senior levels. This phenomenon is even worse for women of color, who represent only 7 percent of current C-suite positions—just a four-percentage-point increase since 2017."
Research consistently shows that the lack of diversity in senior leadership is NOT about talent or ambition--it's about bias and structural barriers that create an uneven playing field. BUT CHANGE IS POSSIBLE. For dozens of specific, evidence-based things your organization can do right now to create a more level playing field for all, visit https://hubs.li/Q02QgtbZ0 and download our free ParityMODELs today.