Why are there still so few women in senior leadership roles? McKinsey report unpacks the math

McKinsey & Company has released its 2022 Women in the Workplace study. A collaboration with LeanIn.org, the report details the state of working women in corporate America.

The good news: This year’s study shows women have been making gains in leadership positions in American companies since 2017.

The bad news: The gains have been called “modest” by McKinsey & Company. 

Here’s what the data shows:

• Men in entry-level employment equaled 52% of the total workforce, while management positions equaled 60%, senior manager director positions equaled 63%, VP positions equaled 68%, SVP positions equaled 71%, and C-suite positions equaled 74%.

In other words, as men advance throughout their careers, they take a disproportionately larger percentage of the workplace leadership hierarchy pie as of 2022. Now compare that to women:

• Women in entry-level employment equaled 48% of the total workforce, while management positions equaled 40%, senior manager director positions equaled 36%, VP positions equaled 32%, SVP positions equaled 28%, and C-suite positions equaled 26%.

While women’s leadership positions have improved by 1% point (entry level), 3% points (manager, senior manager/director, VP), 6% points (C-suite), and 7% points (SVP) since 2017, they still significantly lag behind their male counterparts.

One of the main reasons for this, McKinsey says, is what the study calls the broken rung: “For every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of color are promoted. As a result, men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, and women can never catch up. There are simply too few women to promote into senior leadership positions.”

And McKinsey & Company suggests the problem is only set to get worse with more women leaders leaving companies than ever before—seeking either better opportunities or leaving the workforce altogether. As the study notes, “To put the scale of the problem in perspective: For every woman at the director level who gets promoted to the next level, two women directors are choosing to leave their company.”

The 2022 Women in the Workplace study is packed with other insights that were compiled by surveying 333 participating organizations and more than 40,000 employees. You can read the full report here.