The state of gender parity around the world remains a mixed picture. While progress has been made in increasing women’s representation in the workplace, particularly in leadership roles, the pace of change is far too slow. Globally, the gender gap improved last year by just 0.1%. At the current rate, it will take 134 years to reach full parity—roughly five generations beyond the target date.
Based on data from the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024 as well as McKinsey and LeanIn.Org’s Women in the Workplace 2024: The 10th-anniversary report, it’s clear that companies must sustain and expand their efforts to create inclusive workplaces. Without proactive strategies, gender equity may still take decades to achieve—but with renewed commitment, businesses can accelerate change.
Gender Parity Across Regions
The Global Gender Gap Report 2024 highlights that while the global gender gap is 68.5% closed, progress remains slow. At the current rate, full parity is projected to take 134 years. This disparity varies significantly across regions, impacting workplace dynamics and economic participation.
Europe: Leading in Gender Parity
Score: 75% gender parity
- Europe remains the leader in gender parity, with Iceland at the forefront, having closed 93.5% of its gap.
- Political empowerment stands at 36%, the highest among all regions.
- Economic participation remains a challenge, with a slight uptick to 67.8%.
- Workplace Insight: European workplaces are increasingly gender-inclusive, but disparities in leadership roles and pay gaps persist. Businesses must continue efforts to ensure sustainable progress.
North America: Strong in Education, Lagging in Leadership
Score: 74.8% gender parity
- Educational attainment has reached full parity (100%), and health and survival stands at 96.9%.
- Economic participation and opportunity slightly declined to 76.3%, due to disparities in leadership.
- Political Empowerment ranks third at 26%.
- On average, American women earn 82 cents for every dollar men earn. That was about the same as in 2002, when women earned 80 cents to the dollar.
- Workplace Insight: While women in North America hold a strong presence in education, barriers to senior leadership remain. Addressing wage gaps and leadership representation is key for continued progress.
Latin America and the Caribbean: Fastest Progression
Score: 74.2% gender parity
- The region has seen the most significant improvement (+8.3 percentage points since 2006).
- Economic participation and opportunity has reached 65.7%, driven by increasing labor force participation.
- Political empowerment stands at 34%, which is the second highest globally.
- Workplace Insight: Companies in Latin America are seeing stronger representation of women in professional roles, but cultural norms still pose barriers to further gender equity in executive positions.
Eastern Asia and the Pacific: Strong Economically, Political Gaps Remain
Score: 69.2% gender parity
- Economic participation stands at 71.7%, with disparities in labor-force representation.
- Political empowerment ranks low at 14.5%.
- Educational attainment is high at 95.1%.
- Workplace Insight: Countries like New Zealand lead the way, but others in the region struggle with workforce inclusion. Investing in leadership programs for women can help close these gaps.
Central Asia: A Homogenous Region with Stability
Score: 69.1% gender parity
- Educational attainment is nearly at full parity (99.6%).
- Political empowerment is low at 12.8%, with economic participation slightly declining to 73.4%.
- Workplace Insight: The region’s stability in gender parity provides an opportunity to focus on policy-driven improvements in leadership representation and wage equality.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Significant Progress, but Educational Gaps Persist
Score: 68.4% gender parity
- Economic participation stands at 68.1%, with growth in technical and professional roles.
- Educational attainment is the lowest among all regions at 88.9%.
- Political empowerment has improved to 22.6%, with strong representation in some countries like Mozambique and South Africa.
- Workplace Insight: While progress is notable, investment in education for girls and young women remains a critical priority.
Southern Asia: Economic and Educational Challenges
Score: 63.7% gender parity
- Economic participation and opportunity is the lowest globally at 38.8%.
- Educational attainment is at 94.5% but literacy gaps remain.
- Political empowerment saw a slight decline to 26%.
- Workplace Insight: Companies in this region need to address cultural norms that limit women’s workforce participation, emphasizing skills training and leadership pathways.
Middle East and North Africa: Last, but Improving
Score: 61.7% gender parity
- Economic participation stands at 43.1%.
- Educational attainment has improved to 97.2%.
- Political empowerment remains the lowest of all regions at 11.7%.
- Workplace Insight: While professional roles for women are expanding, cultural shifts and policy support are necessary to ensure sustainable progress in representation.
Gender Parity Progress and the Road Ahead
Data from Women in the Workplace 2024, the largest study on the state of women in corporate America, shows that the past ten years have brought notable improvements in women’s workplace representation. The percentage of women in C-suite positions has risen from 17% in 2015 to 29% today. However, progress remains uneven. Women, especially women of color, continue to be underrepresented at nearly every level of corporate leadership. The “broken rung” at the first step to management persists: for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women are. This foundational gap limits women’s advancement opportunities, making it difficult to sustain gains at higher levels.
Women of color face an even steeper climb, holding just 7% of C-suite roles compared to white women’s 22%. At the current pace, it will take 22 years for white women to reach parity and more than twice as long for women of color. The pipeline remains fragile, as the main driver of women’s increased representation was a reduction in the number of line roles (positions with profit-and-loss responsibility, a focus on the company’s core operations, or both), which disproportionately affected men given that they hold more of these positions. Another reason women’s representation increased was because companies, on average, added staff roles (positions in support functions, such as human resources, legal, and IT) and hired women into these new positions. Since companies cannot add new staff roles indefinitely, this is not a viable path to parity.
In addition to representation, microaggressions, biased evaluations, and workplace harassment continue to affect women’s experiences, sometimes leading to burnout and attrition. Women who experience workplace microaggressions are 4.5 times more likely to think their gender will hinder their advancement and 4.2 times more likely to feel burned out. Addressing these cultural and structural hurdles is key to ensuring that progress is not just maintained but accelerated.
How Companies Can Accelerate Progress
For businesses to achieve lasting gender equity, they must move beyond surface-level initiatives and implement meaningful, long-term strategies. Here are key areas for action:
- Fix the broken rung: Ensure equitable hiring and promotion processes, particularly at the entry-to-manager level. Using structured, bias-free evaluation systems can help close this gap and create a more sustainable pipeline.
- Invest in career development and sponsorship: Rebuilding mentorship and sponsorship programs, especially for women of color, can help counteract structural barriers and accelerate career growth.
- Hold leaders accountable: Embedding inclusion goals into performance reviews and compensation structures for executives and managers can drive meaningful change.
- Address bias and microaggressions: Beyond training, organizations should implement systemic changes, such as regular bias audits and employee feedback mechanisms, to track and mitigate bias in daily interactions.
- Strengthen anti-harassment measures: Companies should enforce stronger policies, transparent reporting mechanisms, and leadership accountability to ensure safer workplaces.
- Normalize and encourage flexibility: Flexible work arrangements benefit all employees, yet many women still face career repercussions for using them. Organizations should ensure that flexibility is a valued and encouraged part of workplace culture.
The Next Decade: A Call to Action
At the current rate, gender parity could still take decades, but with proactive leadership and systemic change, companies can accelerate progress. By maintaining momentum, addressing weak spots in the leadership pipeline, and fostering truly inclusive workplace cultures, organizations can move from incremental improvements to transformational impact.
Women remain ambitious and committed to their careers. Now, it’s time for businesses to match that ambition with decisive action. The journey toward gender parity may be ongoing, but with sustained effort, workplaces can evolve into environments where all employees thrive.
Want to start making progress at your organization? Aperian® has the insights and tools global organizations need to close gender gaps, foster inclusion, and drive meaningful change. Contact us to see how we can address your workforce’s specific needs.
