The Future of Women in Senior Corporate Leadership: Why we can’t take progress for granted

By: Eva Glassman | Associate, Marketing & Communications at C200

Introduction

While women have achieved record representation in senior corporate leadership, many research experts are flagging warning signs that the progress we’ve witnessed over the past several decades may be stagnating.

Why is this happening, and what can we do about it? In this article, we’ll dive into the numbers and explore the state of women’s representation across the corporate pipeline, why research experts are warning of backwards trends in progress, and why mentorship and educational programming are vital resources for senior corporate women poised for the C-Suite.

Representation of women across the corporate pipeline

McKinsey’s 2023 Women in the Workplace report shares important progress in terms of gender equality across the corporate pipeline. For example, since 2015, the number of women in the C-Suite has increased from 17% to 28%, with representation of women at the VP and SVP levels increasing as well.

While that is a significant jump, it’s worth considering the following:

The 11-point increase occurred over a gradual, eight-year period.
Since women make up about half of the world’s population, the increase to 28% only continues to reflect the gender disparity at the high leadership level.
The 28% of C-Suite roles going to women is a drop from 48% of entry-level roles.

According to McKinsey, the higher the position in the company, the lower the percentage of women representation; meanwhile, the percentage of men represented at each role increases towards the C-Suite (52% to 72%).

While progress has been unequal and slow, it may no longer be so steady.

This year, researchers have marked an alarming trend in the senior corporate landscape: a decreased rate in hiring women into those positions. The World Economic Forum’s recent Global 2024 Gender Gap Report finds that, in 2023, the rate dropped from 37.5% to 36.9%, and dropped again to 36.4% in 2024—to below 2021 levels.

While one may argue that these decreases are negligible, researchers urge not to dismiss them. S&P Global, in their recent report on this trend, says: “Exponential growth [of women’s representation among senior corporate positions] over a decade is showing signs of losing momentum. Growth no longer appears exponential. A waning focus on diversity initiatives […] calls our previous gender parity estimates into question.”

Year-on-Year Growth in Women’s Representation among Senior Leadership Positions in S&P Global Total Market Index Firms

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence Quantamental Research. Data as Data as at 03/04/2024.

These numbers could be the very first warning signs of a trend backwards in progress for senior corporate women.

Mentorship and educational programming are invaluable resources to businesswomen.

With continued progress for senior corporate women coming into question, ensuring they have the skills, support, and connections needed to ascend to the C-Suite has never been more important—and with so few women at that level as it is, finding such resources and a community has never been easy, either.

A study from Development Dimensions International found that 63% of women have never had a formal mentor. When mid- and senior-level corporate leaders get access to mentorship and educational programming for their professional growth, it can make the difference when they are up for promotion to the C-Suite. However, educational resources cost time and money, and it can be hard to cut through the market to find something truly transformational.

C200 has always been in the fight for gender equity in senior corporate leadership.

C200’s mission is to inspire, educate, support, and advance current and future women entrepreneurs and corporate, profit-center leaders. Since our founding in 1982, we have worked every single day to advance women in business and have grown our membership to over 400 incredibly successful businesswomen. Our mission to ensure more women like our members continue to exist, accel, and succeed has never mattered more than it does today.

Corporate executives make up over half of our membership, some of the most influential women in business in the world who know firsthand how easily progress can be undone; many of them were the first pavers of the progress for senior corporate women that we see today. The numbers we’ve explored in this article show us all that we need to be doing more for the next generation of women leaders if they are to succeed. As McKinsey correctly predicts, “These hard-earned gains are encouraging yet fragile.”

At C200, we see the numbers for corporate women: the progress, the room to grow, and the alarming trend backwards. However, we also see the path forward for women ready to advance into executive and C-Suite leadership—and that’s with C-Ahead®.

C-Ahead® with C200

Part of C200’s mission involves investing in and developing best-in-class educational programming and mentorship opportunities, and we’re proud to offer a variety of Advancing Women Programs for businesswomen at every stage of their journey.

C-Ahead® is designed for high-potential, senior corporate women at a critical point in their careers, the point at which it becomes much more difficult to ascend the corporate ladder into executive or C-Suite leadership. This is the inflection point where support, skills, advice, and community can make all the difference for these women—and that’s what C-Ahead® provides.

Ready to C-Ahead® to your future as a major corporate leader? Learn more and apply to join our next cohort by August 30, 2024.