Only Half of Companies Prioritize Women’s Career Advancement: Women in the Workplace Study

According to this year’s Women in the Workplace study, presented by McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, only half of companies are prioritizing women’s career advancement, part of a several-year trend in declining commitment to gender diversity. And for the first time, there is a notable ambition gap: Women are less interested in being promoted than men.

“When women receive the same career support that men do, this gap in ambition to advance falls away. Yet women at both ends of the pipeline are still held back by less sponsorship and manager advocacy,” the report says. “This is a solvable problem, but it requires a greater investment in women’s careers at a time when a number of companies may be deprioritizing them. Some have already scaled back programs beneficial to women, such as remote work, formal sponsorship, and targeted career development, and HR leaders worry about the long-term impact of changes like these for women. Corporate America has made real progress in women’s representation over the past decade and companies that prioritize gender diversity see bigger gains. For companies that lost focus this year, 2026 should be the year of recommitting to women in the workplace.”

Key takeaways:

·        Women are as motivated as men but less likely to see a path up.

·        However, the gap in desire to advance falls away at all career levels. Data shows that women don’t receive the same career support as men, especially at entry and senior levels. Women overall are less likely than men to have a sponsor, and entry-level women stand out for receiving far less sponsorship than any other group of women or men.

·        Women and men are equally dedicated to their careers and motivated to do their best work, yet women overall have lower aspirations for promotion than men. This may seem at odds with women’s high commitment levels, but the data suggest that even highly motivated women may be discouraged from pursuing a promotion when faced with limited support or competing demands on their time.

·        This gap is most pronounced at the entry and senior-leader levels: 69% of entry-level women want a promotion vs. 80% of entry-level men; 84% of senior-level women want to be promoted vs. 92% of senior-level men.

·        Compared with senior-level men, senior-level women see a steeper climb ahead. Senior-level women who don’t want to advance are more likely than men at the same level to say they’ve been passed over for a promotion and don’t see a realistic path to the top.

·        However, women experience a different workplace than men. Early- and mid-career women are less likely to believe opportunities are fair. Senior-level women stand out for thinking their gender will limit their future opportunities, perhaps because they’ve been in the workforce longer and experienced more headwinds over the course of their careers.

·        For the 11th consecutive year, women remain underrepresented at every level of the corporate pipeline, especially in senior leadership, where they make up just 29% of C-suite roles, unchanged from 2024.

·        This year, only 93 women were promoted to manager-level roles for every 100 men. The gap is even bigger for women of color, with 74 women of color promoted for every 100 men.

·        The share of women in leadership at top-performing companies—those with more women represented throughout the pipeline—is up seven percentage points, on average, since 2021. Meanwhile, low-performing companies have made modest, uneven gains.

·        Certain best practices are more common at top performers, including having senior leaders communicate that disrespectful behavior isn’t welcome in the workplace, holding senior leaders accountable for advancing diversity and inclusion, and establishing mechanisms for surfacing bias in hiring and promotions.

·        Women early in their careers are far less likely than men to be people managers. As a result, far more entry-level men are on a path that can lead to promotion. This survey revealed that four in 10 entry-level women have not received a promotion, stretch assignment, or opportunity to participate in leadership or career training in the past two years.

·        Only 21% of entry-level women are encouraged by their managers to use AI tools, compared with 33% of men at their level. This matters because when employees are encouraged to use AI, they’re over 50% more likely to do so, allowing them to build essential skills.

·        A majority of companies say diversity is a high priority this year, and more than eight in 10 remain committed to inclusion. However, commitment to women’s advancement is much lower: Only about half of surveyed companies say women’s career advancement is a high priority, and fewer are prioritizing women of color’s advancement.

·        When it comes to the prevalence of HR practices in 2025, many companies are maintaining their efforts to support career advancement and foster a supportive work culture.

·        Moreover, some companies have scaled back or discontinued career development programs with content designed to support women, and there has been a notable decline in remote and flexible work options, which research shows can be especially helpful to women’s success at work. This data shows that women who work remotely three or more days per week are less likely to have been promoted in the past two years than men in identical working arrangements.

·        The majority of HR executives interviewed express particular concern that as women’s Employee Resource Groups become less centered on women’s unique advancement challenges, momentum on issues like sponsorship could slow further. This concern is reinforced by the data showing the challenges of sponsorship for women.