Businesses report growing benefits from gender equality
GENEVA (ILO News) – Women are increasingly reaching the highest levels of business leadership, and enterprises report growing benefits from gender equality and diversity. Yet gaps in the management pipeline and a decline in the implementation of enterprise initiatives could make these gains harder to sustain, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The report, Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success, finds that women’s representation at the top of enterprises has improved over the past decade. The share of enterprises with a woman board chair rose from 13.1 per cent in 2013 to 30.9 per cent in 2025, while the share with a woman CEO increased from 23.4 per cent to 28.2 per cent over the same period.
Despite progress at the top, women remain under-represented in management overall, holding less than a third (30 per cent) of managerial positions globally. Progress across the management pipeline is also uneven: between 2013 and 2025, gender balance improved at senior and top management levels but declined at junior and middle management levels.
Strong business case for gender equality
Gender equality is a fundamental right, and the evidence is clear that it is also a powerful driver of sustainable enterprises and economic growth.
ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo
Nearly seven in ten enterprises surveyed in 2025 said gender equality and diversity initiatives had improved business outcomes, up 11.1 percentage points from 2018. Among enterprises reporting increased profits through initiatives promoting women in management, 87.4 per cent reported gains of at least 5 per cent. Enterprises with women CEOs and board chairs were also more likely to report better business outcomes.
Despite the strengthening business case, there is a growing gap between commitment and implementation. Nearly three quarters (74.8 per cent) of enterprises reported having a gender equality and diversity policy or equivalent in place in 2025. Yet the share of enterprises implementing gender equality and diversity initiatives fell from 37.4 per cent in 2018 to 26.5 per cent in 2025. The decline included measures that enterprises themselves identified as among the most effective, including maternity leave and support programmes 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.
Untapped talent
These findings come despite major advances in women’s education. Globally, women now outpace men in higher education, with 46.4 per cent of women enrolled in tertiary education in 2023, compared with 40.3 per cent of men. But the report finds that women continue to be under-represented in some of the business functions and sectors that frequently provide 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”.
At a time when enterprises are competing for skills and talent, leaving women’s potential untapped makes little business sense.
Maria Paz Anzorreguy, Director of the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities
Turning commitments into action
The report highlights practical measures that can help enterprises turn commitments into results, including strengthening women’s leadership pipelines, using gender metrics and voluntary targets, improving access to roles and sectors where women remain under-represented, and embedding gender equality into business strategies and accountability frameworks.
It also calls for action to address structural barriers outside the workplace, including unequal care responsibilities, occupational segregation and persistent social norms.
The report draws on the ILO’s 2025 global enterprise survey of 11,957 enterprises in 99 countries, together with earlier surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018, three decades of labour market data, secondary research and enterprise case studies.
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