Women Hit the Glass Ceiling Earlier Than You Think

Women are less likely to receive the first critical promotion to manager—so far fewer end up on the path to leadership—and they are less likely to be hired into more senior positions. As a result, the higher you look in companies, the fewer women you see.

Moreover, women and men are not having the same experiences at work. Women get less access to the people, input and opportunities that accelerate careers and are disadvantaged in many of their daily interactions. Women are also less than half as likely as men to say they see a lot of people like them in senior management, and they’re right—only one in five senior executives is a woman. 

This disparity is especially pronounced for women of color, who face the most barriers to advancement and experience the steepest drop-offs with seniority.

Companies’ commitment to gender diversity is at an all-time high, but they are struggling to put their commitment into practice. Seventy-eight percent of companies report that commitment to gender diversity is a top priority for their CEO, up from 56 percent in 2012. But this commitment does not always translate into visible action. Fewer than half of employees think their company is doing what it takes to improve gender diversity. Moreover, fewer than a third of employees say senior leaders regularly communicate the importance of gender diversity and are held accountable for making progress. 

To level the playing field, companies need to treat gender diversity like the business imperative it is, and that starts with better communication, more training, and a clearer focus on results.

This is hard work but work worth doing: A fairer, more inclusive work environment will lead to more engaged employees. A more diverse workforce will lead to stronger organizations. And that’s good for employees, good for companies, and good for all of us. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Read LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2016 report – which was released today – for more findings on the state of women in corporate America and the concrete steps companies can take to advance gender diversity. Based on a survey of 132 companies employing more than 4.6 million people, to our knowledge, it is the most comprehensive annual study on the subject.

You can also read the WSJ’s special section on the report, including an op-ed that LeanIn.Org founder Sheryl Sandberg and I wrote on a core finding of the study: women are negotiating as often as men but face pushback when they do.