Women in Leadership: New Research from HIGH5 Reveals Persistent Gaps and Business Case for Gender Equality

Despite increasing women’s participation, just 30.6% of global leadership roles are held by women. HIGH5 shares key stats & for leaders, HR & DEI professionals.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, November 6, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- HIGH5 released a comprehensive new resource, “20+ Women in Leadership Statistics & Data for 2024/2025”, offering updated, data-rich insights into the state of women’s leadership across industries, roles and regions. The report highlights both advances and persistent barriers and outlines the business benefits of gender-diverse leadership.

Key findings include:
- Representation gap: Women make up 43.4% of the global workforce, yet only 30.6% hold formal leadership roles.

- Promotion disparity: For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women receive the same advancement opportunity — a critical bottleneck in the career pipeline.

- C-suite imbalance: Only 10.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women as of 2024, and just 2% are women of color.

- Board diversity: Women occupy about 33% of Fortune 500 board seats, but representation drops sharply in smaller and private firms.

- Sector gaps: Women lead in sectors like HR and education but remain underrepresented in finance, technology, and energy — industries driving the future economy.

- Performance link: Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 9–25% more likely to outperform their peers in profitability and value creation.

- Retention effect: Organizations with gender-balanced leadership experience lower turnover rates and report higher engagement scores among employees.

“This research shows that while progress is being made, the pace of change is still too slow,” said Emma Williams, Chief Research Officer at HIGH5. “Closing the leadership gender gap is not just a fairness imperative — it’s a strategic business one.”

Why it matters:
Women’s representation in leadership isn’t just a fairness issue — it’s a performance driver. Studies consistently show that gender-diverse teams make better strategic decisions 87% of the time, and companies with inclusive cultures are twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets.

Yet, systemic barriers such as biased promotion practices, unequal mentorship access, and cultural stereotypes continue to limit women’s advancement. This imbalance carries a hidden cost: organizations that overlook female leadership potential miss out on creativity, collaboration, and perspective diversity that fuel innovation.

Beyond profit, representation also impacts purpose. In a time when employees increasingly expect companies to stand for equality and social responsibility, the makeup of leadership teams reflects a company’s values. Gender-balanced leadership fosters cultures of belonging — leading to higher engagement, stronger brand reputation, and better talent retention.

As businesses compete in a skills-driven economy, advancing women isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s a strategic necessity.

About HIGH5:
HIGH5 is a strengths assessment and team development platform used by over 4 million test takers around the world, helping individuals, teams and organizations discover what they are naturally great at and apply those strengths to improve leadership, engagement and performance.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Emma Williams
Chief Research Officer at HIGH5
Email: emma@high5test.com
Website: https://high5test.com
Link to research: https://high5test.com/women-in-leadership-statistics/

Emma Williams
HIGH5
email us here

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