The Business Journals published an article on the progress women have made in corporate leadership. To hear about TMG’s thoughts on sourcing the best in the industry, please contact our Vice President, Deborah Page.
The number of women who have reached the highest levels of leadership in financial services — the C-suite and board — is growing in small increments. But if organizations continue to devote the current level of effort toward achieving gender equity among their leadership team, progress likely will slow or stagnate by 2031, a new Within Reach report from Deloitte Insights shows.
Currently, women hold 18% of traditional C-suite positions globally, i.e., those that typically report to the CEO or to the board, such as chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief marketing officer or chief operating officer.
The rise in C-suite representation for women has come from non-traditional roles, those that typically report to another C-level person or have been created over the last two decades, such as chief digital officer, chief diversity and inclusion officer, and chief sustainability officer.
Although still comparatively low, the number of women in non-traditional C-suite roles did grow twice as fast as those in traditional C-suite roles over the past decade, the report said. And in the past five years, that growth rate tripled.
The connection between C-suite representation and other roles
Interestingly, the progress in board gender diversity mirrors the rise of women in C-suites, hinting at a synergy between the two that suggests more women in the C-suite may attract higher representation in the boardroom, and vice versa.
That multiplier effect plays out in additional ways for companies. In the U.S., for example, every woman added to the C-suite results in about three additional women among the senior-leadership ranks, such as executive vice presidents and senior vice presidents.
But there’s a caveat, the report notes: At a global level, women’s representation in senior leadership and next-generation roles has grown at a much slower pace than C-suite roles.
“If the status quo continues, the share of women in senior-leadership roles could stagnate while that of next-generation roles is likely to fall by almost 2 percentage points by 2031, highlighting the importance of gender-equity efforts and building a sustainable talent pipeline across organizations and geographies,” the report said.
A study earlier this year from the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value and women’s executive leadership network Chief found similar results. While there was a small increase in the number of women in C-suite and board-level positions from 2021 to 2022 and in the percentage of women holding lower-level roles, the number of women next in line for top leadership still hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with 14% representation of women in senior vice president roles in 2022 versus 18% in 2019 and 16% in vice president roles versus 19% in 2019.
“While we’re pleased to see slight progress in the representation of women at the C-suite and board levels, it’s imperative that companies do more to fill the pipeline that leads to these powerful positions,” Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder and chief brand officer of Chief, told Bizwomen.
Sandy Ko, founder and principal of Customer Contact Women, said that’s why it’s important to make sure women are rising to the top as best as they can and have the same opportunities.
“We know that gender diversity can bring so many different perspectives to the table as businesses are making decisions,” Ko told The Playbook.
How companies can increase gender equity in leadership
Experts offered a number of ways companies can work to ensure gender equity and diversity among their leadership ranks. An earlier report from Deloitte called The Equity Imperative noted that equity should be treated as a business outcome, “with careful planning, clear metrics and continual actions to meet the objective.” Some of those actions include:
- Addressing persistent challenges such as childcare needs and remote work options to demonstrate a commitment to recruiting, retaining and supporting women
- Ensuring that company leaders offer continued support through sponsorship, mentorship, and allyship programs and networking opportunities for women at all levels
- Evaluating and refining succession planning and promotion practices to ensure each opportunity is pulling from a diverse slate of candidates, which also can help build a diverse pipeline of future leaders
Workplace experts also said companies should set measurable targets for increasing the representation of women in leadership positions — goals that not only should be integrated into the organization’s overall strategic plan but also regularly tracked and reported. These include:
- Establishing clear diversity goals and metrics for increasing the representation of women in leadership positions, with progress regularly tracked and reported
- Providing mentorship and sponsorship programs to nurture the careers of aspiring female leaders and provide valuable guidance, support and opportunities for skill development
- Investing in leadership development and training programs to help bridge skill gaps and prepare women for executive roles, covering skills such as strategic thinking, communication and decision-making.
- Cultivating inclusive work environments to attract and retain talented women, including addressing unconscious biases and creating environments where all employees feel valued and heard
- Implementing flexible work policies such as remote work options or flexible hours for women seeking to balance their professional and personal responsibilities
- Advocating for equal pay and benefits by conducting regular pay equity audits and making necessary adjustments to close any existing gaps
- Establishing diverse candidate slates when hiring for leadership positions, ensuring that selection processes are fair and unbiased
“Taking these actions now, at the organizational level, could collectively change the trajectory of women’s share in financial services firm leadership around the world,” the report said. “It could even make achieving gender equity a goal that’s truly within reach.”
