Our latest Women in Business report reveals the pace towards parity in mid-market firms isn’t moving fast enough. A young woman starting her career today will be working for more than a quarter of a century before she can expect to work at a mid-market firm with gender parity in top senior roles. Our research explores how gender balanced teams can bring better business performance – and with small and mid-market firms making up the largest part of the global economy [i], now is the time to keep up the pressure.
Although some economies are close to reaching parity in senior leadership positions, the global rate of change is concerningly slow – advancing at a rate that would raise concerns if discussing the rate of economic growth. And yet both scenarios have similar, far-reaching consequences for the global economy.
| % women in senior management | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Country Name | Country Code | X Coordinate | Y Coordinate | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2007 | 2004 |
| Global | GL | 92.5 | 118 | 34.0% | 33.5% | 32.4% | 31.9% | 31.2% | 28.7% | 28.8% | 24.1% | 24.5% | 23.5% | 22.3% | 24.0% | 24.2% | 20.9% | 20.2% | 23.9% | 24.1% | 19.4% |
| Argentina | AR | 27 | 11 | 34.9% | 30.8% | 29.4% | 30.5% | 30.8% | 23.6% | 19.8% | 22.9% | 15.0% | 17.6% | 15.7% | 25.0% | 18.1% | 19.5% | 18.3% | 17.4% | ||
| Australia | AU | 92 | 15 | 36.5% | 39.6% | 39.5% | 32.0% | 32.4% | 28.4% | 41.9% | 15.1% | 23.3% | 22.9% | 22.0% | 22.0% | 22.5% | 24.2% | 27.1% | 23.0% | 21.9% | 22.1% |
| Brazil | BR | 28.5 | 24.6 | 36.7% | 37.1% | 38.6% | 37.8% | 39.0% | 34.4% | 25.4% | 29.5% | 18.7% | 18.5% | 15.2% | 22.0% | 23.1% | 26.5% | 23.7% | 28.7% | 42.0% | |
| Canada | CA | 16 | 70 | 34.7% | 35.5% | 38.6% | 30.4% | 35.6% | 32.0% | 28.4% | 25.0% | 23.4% | 26.4% | 25.1% | 23.0% | 26.6% | 25.1% | 27.8% | 27.9% | 18.6% | 22.4% |
| China | CN | 80 | 48 | 35.3% | 32.6% | 35.4% | 32.3% | 28.6% | 31.4% | 28.3% | 30.9% | 31.3% | 29.8% | 24.7% | 38.0% | 39.0% | 25.2% | 33.8% | 31.4% | 31.9% | |
| Egypt | EG | 57.1 | 37.7 | 30.3% | |||||||||||||||||
| France | FR | 46 | 53 | 37.7% | 37.9% | 34.8% | 31.1% | 32.9% | 27.9% | 18.5% | 32.8% | 30.9% | 28.0% | 32.6% | 24.0% | 25.7% | 23.8% | 21.2% | 17.8% | 21.2% | 20.7% |
| Germany | DE | 52 | 56 | 30.1% | 30.6% | 29.9% | 34.9% | 38.2% | 29.8% | 35.5% | 23.2% | 18.4% | 15.2% | 14.0% | 14.0% | 31.3% | 12.9% | 11.4% | 17.4% | 11.6% | 16.3% |
| Greece | GR | 54.7 | 46.3 | 30.7% | 31.6% | 36.8% | 28.3% | 32.6% | 24.5% | 21.8% | 26.0% | 19.8% | 26.7% | 27.0% | 29.0% | 29.5% | 21.3% | 29.9% | 23.0% | 20.6% | 22.0% |
| India | IN | 72 | 36 | 36.5% | 33.9% | 36.0% | 38.0% | 39.1% | 29.9% | 28.2% | 19.8% | 16.9% | 16.2% | 15.2% | 14.0% | 18.9% | 14.5% | 9.2% | 15.4% | 13.9% | 11.7% |
| Indonesia | ID | 91 | 28 | 36.3% | 37.4% | 38.7% | 38.1% | 37.7% | 36.6% | 31.9% | 42.6% | 45.6% | 36.2% | 20.2% | 41.0% | ||||||
| Ireland | IE | 41 | 57 | 36.5% | 36.0% | 40.3% | 30.5% | 32.8% | 31.1% | 34.9% | 31.8% | 26.0% | 19.1% | 24.4% | 23.0% | 21.2% | 21.3% | 19.4% | 21.5% | 21.0% | 15.6% |
| Italy | IT | 49.7 | 46.3 | 34.8% | 35.7% | 34.0% | 29.9% | 29.0% | 27.6% | 24.3% | 33.9% | 26.9% | 29.0% | 26.1% | 30.0% | 23.8% | 36.0% | 21.6% | 21.0% | 14.3% | 18.2% |
| Japan | JP | 90 | 50 | 18.4% | 19.5% | 15.9% | 14.9% | 14.7% | 12.1% | 15.4% | 5.4% | 7.1% | 7.3% | 7.8% | 9.0% | 7.4% | 5.3% | 8.1% | 6.6% | 6.6% | 7.6% |
| Kenya | KE | 59.7 | 29.2 | 37.9% | |||||||||||||||||
| Malaysia | MY | 79.6 | 28 | 36.2% | 39.6% | 40.4% | 40.1% | 36.9% | 33.4% | 22.7% | 27.9% | 24.2% | 26.5% | 22.4% | 25.0% | 25.8% | 28.3% | 31.3% | 31.3% | 23.0% | |
| Mexico | MX | 14 | 37 | 38.9% | 36.2% | 38.0% | 32.6% | 35.0% | 36.9% | 25.5% | 33.9% | 23.9% | 18.2% | 22.5% | 28.0% | 22.8% | 18.3% | 18.5% | 30.9% | 20.4% | 26.6% |
| Morocco | MA | 45.7 | 40.9 | 34.2% | |||||||||||||||||
| Nigeria | NG | 48 | 30 | 34.0% | 40.6% | 38.7% | 37.7% | 35.7% | 36.2% | 38.5% | 30.1% | 29.3% | 28.8% | 20.5% | |||||||
| Philippines | PH | 87.8 | 35.8 | 43.0% | 43.1% | 48.8% | 39.2% | 48.0% | 42.9% | 37.5% | 46.6% | 39.5% | 39.0% | 40.0% | 37.1% | 38.6% | 34.8% | 47.5% | 50.3% | 39.4% | |
| Singapore | SG | 84.5 | 28 | 36.3% | 31.3% | 49.3% | 33.8% | 32.8% | 30.7% | 33.0% | 29.7% | 29.8% | 25.8% | 22.9% | 23.0% | 27.4% | 23.1% | 29.9% | 27.9% | 20.8% | 23.0% |
| South Africa | ZA | 53 | 13 | 47.2% | 42.0% | 41.0% | 42.5% | 43.4% | 40.1% | 24.2% | 29.0% | 28.2% | 22.7% | 27.3% | 26.0% | 28.2% | 28.1% | 27.4% | 27.9% | 29.3% | 26.5% |
| South Korea | KR | 94 | 62 | 21.7% | 19.6% | 23.5% | 21.1% | 18.3% | 16.5% | 29.9% | |||||||||||
| Spain | ES | 42 | 47.2 | 40.4% | 40.3% | 37.6% | 35.9% | 33.5% | 33.8% | 29.7% | 27.2% | 27.2% | 25.8% | 25.6% | 22.0% | 21.4% | 24.1% | 22.2% | 20.6% | 17.3% | 14.1% |
| Sweden | SE | 51 | 68 | 35.3% | 34.3% | 30.5% | 32.0% | 30.1% | 26.9% | 21.6% | 29.5% | 28.5% | 25.8% | 28.0% | 26.0% | 26.8% | 22.9% | 26.7% | 21.5% | 22.5% | 17.7% |
| Thailand | TH | 79.7 | 37.8 | 43.1% | 41.0% | 36.6% | 38.0% | 34.2% | 33.5% | 19.4% | 42.1% | 31.4% | 37.1% | 27.2% | 38.0% | 35.8% | 39.3% | 45.0% | 37.8% | 39.2% | |
| Turkey | TR | 59.6 | 46.2 | 41.3% | 41.0% | 36.9% | 40.3% | 34.9% | 35.9% | 33.9% | 27.2% | 23.2% | 20.5% | 25.7% | 25.0% | 30.0% | 31.0% | 25.0% | 28.7% | 17.2% | 20.4% |
| United Arab Emirates | AE | 62.9 | 39 | 26.1% | 22.9% | 27.1% | 27.5% | 26.3% | 22.7% | 24.2% | |||||||||||
| United Kingdom | GB | 45 | 62.6 | 36.3% | 33.5% | 32.5% | 32.3% | 33.5% | 29.3% | 25.6% | 22.5% | 18.7% | 21.0% | 22.2% | 20.0% | 19.0% | 20.2% | 23.1% | 20.7% | 19.3% | 17.6% |
| United States | US | 12 | 55 | 34.0% | 34.8% | 30.8% | 33.3% | 32.3% | 28.3% | 31.1% | 21.2% | 22.7% | 23.2% | 21.1% | 22.0% | 20.3% | 16.9% | 15.0% | 20.3% | 23.3% | 19.8% |
| Vietnam | VN | 84.8 | 44 | 37.4% | 33.4% | 33.5% | 33.3% | 38.9% | 32.9% | 36.9% | |||||||||||
Read about the opportunities to drive meaningful change
Achieving gender balance in top tech roles by boosting prospects for early career women in tech, measuring turnover by gender and committing to greater transparency to attract women to the technology industry.
Women’s leadership in senior positions can impact the commercial performance of mid-market businesses including profit expectations.
2024 marks the 20th year of Women in business where we monitor and measure the proportion of women occupying senior management roles around the world.
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i. Small businesses are key to a more sustainable and inclusive world. Here's why [www.weforum.org]
