Gender equality pays off, but businesses doing less
More businesses are recognizing the benefits of gender equality and diversity, with nearly seven in 10 enterprises reporting improved business outcomes from such initiatives. However, declining implementation of workplace equality programs and persistent gaps in women’s career advancement threaten to undermine these gains, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The report, Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success, found that women’s representation in top business leadership has improved over the past decade. The share of enterprises with a woman board chair more than doubled, from 13.1 percent in 2013 to 30.9 percent in 2025, while those with a woman chief executive officer (CEO) increased from 23.4 percent to 28.2 percent.
Despite these gains, women continue to hold less than a third, or 30 percent, of managerial positions worldwide. Progress has also been uneven across the management pipeline, with gender balance improving at senior and top management levels between 2013 and 2025 but declining at junior and middle management levels.
The ILO report also underscored the growing business case for gender equality. Nearly seven in 10 enterprises surveyed in 2025 said their gender equality and diversity initiatives had improved business outcomes, an increase of 11.1 percentage points from 2018.
Among businesses that reported higher profits from initiatives promoting women in management, 87.4 percent recorded gains of at least 5 percent. Enterprises with women CEOs and board chairs were also more likely to report better business outcomes.
However, translating commitments into actual workplace programs remains a challenge.
While 74.8 percent of enterprises reported having a gender equality and diversity policy or equivalent in 2025, the proportion implementing such initiatives fell from 37.4 percent in 2018 to just 26.5 percent in 2025.
The decline included measures businesses themselves identified as among the most effective, such as maternity leave and support programs and equal pay initiatives.
“Gender equality is a fundamental right, and the evidence is clear that it is also a powerful driver of sustainable enterprises and economic growth. The priority now is to turn policies and commitments into concrete, measurable progress,” said ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo.
The report pointed to the untapped potential of women, noting that they have overtaken men in higher education enrollment globally. In 2023, 46.4 percent of women were enrolled in tertiary education, compared with 40.3 percent of men.
Yet women remain under-represented in business functions and industries that often serve as pathways to senior leadership.
“At a time when enterprises are competing for skills and talent, leaving women’s potential untapped makes little business sense”, said Maria Paz Anzorreguy, Director of the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities. “The evidence increasingly tells us what works. The priority now is to put it into practice and scale it”.
To sustain progress, the ILO called on enterprises to strengthen women’s leadership pipelines, use gender metrics and voluntary targets, expand women’s access to under-represented roles and sectors, and integrate gender equality into business strategies and accountability frameworks.
It also urged action on structural barriers beyond the workplace, including unequal care responsibilities, occupational segregation, and persistent social norms.
The report draws on the ILO’s 2025 global enterprise survey covering 11,957 enterprises in 99 countries, earlier surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018, three decades of labor market data, secondary research, and enterprise case studies.
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