Just 6% of CEOs worldwide are women

In an era marked by the speed of innovation and transformation, the staggering reality is that progress toward gender parity continues to be slow and uneven around the globe. 

Gender parity occurs when people of all gender identities are able to proportionately participate in society—including in our corporate boardrooms. Throughout our careers, we’ve witnessed the dawn of a variety of programs and initiatives aimed at improving gender parity in the business world and have personally benefited from many of them. Yet we are far from the finish line. There is still more work to be done if we are going to eliminate the gender parity gap in our lifetime—a fundamental imperative for a more equitable and sustainable business world and society.

It’s not only the right thing to do but also the right business decision. Research suggests that organizations that are more gender-diverse—from top executives and board members to managers and employees—tend to outperform those that are less so.

Deloitte’s recent Women in the Boardroom report highlights the global state of women in executive positions. Just 6% of CEOs globally are women. About 23.3% of corporate board seats globally are held by women and just 8.4% of the world’s boards are chaired by women. 

Inconsistencies in the gender representation of corporate boards can be seen across the world. In the U.S., just 28.1% of women hold board seats, trailing other major economies like France (44%), Norway (43.5%), and Italy (40.4%). Yet the U.S. falls significantly higher than economies such as China (15.1%), India (18.3%), and Japan (12.8%). 

On our current trajectory, our research shows that these disparities may not be closed until at least 2038. And at the current slow pace of progress, global gender parity for chairs and CEOs will not be reached before 2073 and 2111, respectively.

The role of leaders

Despite gender equality reforms in many countries and innovative efforts in the private and public sectors, there still remains a critical need to dismantle age-old societal and cultural barriers, to challenge biases, and to forge a new path forward toward a more inclusive, equitable future.

As global leaders, we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to acknowledge these challenges and help pave the road toward tangible change. Our mission is to accelerate the journey toward global gender parity. This includes identifying paths for women to secure and thrive in leadership positions; investing in learning and development opportunities for women to both sponsor and accelerate their advancement; and driving greater global, cross-sector collaboration aimed at closing the gender parity gap.

Here are three steps leaders can take to help achieve gender parity in corporate leadership. 

Take accountability 

To take accountability, decision-makers should lead a candid examination of what is needed to promote women into leadership. 

Purpose-driven leaders are often focused on a myriad of programs and initiatives aimed at promoting greater diversity throughout their organizations, and specifically within leadership roles. However, it’s critical that the focus continues to be on equitable outcomes versus specific activities to create lasting change and impact.

Improving gender parity throughout an organization starts with an honest assessment of the current leadership team and the succession pipeline. For instance, leaders should routinely ask questions like:

• How does our leadership team cultivate the right mix of experiences, skills, and backgrounds to address the complexities of the business today and in the future?
• How do we emphasize the right skill sets, leadership, and business acumen in the hiring and succession process?
• How do we ensure our pipelines are advancing women at the same rates as men, and how do we identify whether we are losing women leaders at critical junctures in the pipeline? 

If the answers to these questions do not ultimately result in equitable outcomes, leaders need to look more closely at changes to the current processes and programs in place to render systemic and lasting change. This could include a purposeful succession plan that creates more opportunities for women; active sponsorship by current leaders to advocate on behalf of the best candidates for leadership roles; recruitment strategies focused more on necessary skills rather than previously held job titles, bringing qualified women left out back into the room; and learning and development experiences for women that have the potential to open up the aperture of leadership roles available to them. 

Accelerate momentum

Next, leaders should identify opportunities for growth and development in growing areas such as generative AI (GenAI).

With boundless innovation emanating from the technology sector, learning and development opportunities become paramount to remain agile in the marketplace.

This is particularly important for the rapidly emerging field of GenAI as women have historically been underrepresented in the field of technology—and because women are more likely to work jobs that can be replaced by GenAI. 

Many business leaders are constrained by talent limitations as they scale their GenAI deployments. According to Deloitte’s recent State of GenAI in the Enterprise report, nearly 4 in 10 (37%) business leaders say their organizations are only slightly or not at all prepared to address talent concerns related to GenAI adoption. But nearly three-quarters plan to adjust their talent strategies in the next two years due to GenAI, with a focus on altering work processes and upskilling/reskilling. This shift presents an exciting opportunity for greater gender parity and inclusivity in the GenAI field.

We must help ensure that women are a part of the GenAI revolution, particularly because research shows that many women are less comfortable working with GenAI than their male counterparts, and less likely to engage in GenAI-related training over the next year. If left unchecked, this disparity could further exacerbate gender inequality. As GenAI transforms jobs and industries, we should intentionally carve out meaningful opportunities for women leaders. A proactive approach will only serve to strengthen the diversity and inclusivity of thought in the GenAI field.

Build coalitions

And lastly, leaders need to come together to address the issue of gender parity head-on. Collaboration across the global ecosystem is essential to closing the gender parity gap for good. 

While the power to close the leadership gender gap predominantly rests with organizations and their leaders, achieving parity demands collaboration that transcends boundaries. The entire private sector, governments and regulatory bodies, investors, local organizations, and society at large can implement frameworks and policies geared toward empowering women in leadership. 

At the current pace, global gender parity for chairs and CEOs will not be reached before 2073 and 2111, respectively. These dates, almost 50 and 90 years in the future, highlight the urgency of our task. Without a full-scale global effort, we risk further prolonging this progress. We, as leaders, bear the responsibility to champion and advocate for a comprehensive, global approach to gender parity that is centered on promoting women into positions of power, shattering persistent barriers, and cultivating a global suite of leaders that mirrors the diversity of the people it serves.

In the pursuit of global gender parity, we’re not merely rectifying the scales of representation—we’re shaping a future where every voice matters, where every individual can lead, and where our collective strength and wisdom truly reflect the diverse world we inhabit.