Corporate America ‘risks rolling back progress’ for women, says new report

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN

(CNN) — Large US companies have made progress – albeit slowly – over the past decade when it comes to increasing the number of women in management and leadership roles on every rung of the corporate ladder.

But reported changes in company priorities this year coupled with employees’ reported experiences suggest those modest but steady gains may be at risk.

That’s one takeaway from the latest annual report on the state of women at work from consulting firm McKinsey & Company and Lean In, a women-at-work advocacy group.

“For the 11th consecutive year, women remain underrepresented at every level of the corporate pipeline,” the report notes. “[A]nd company commitment to their advancement appears to be declining.”

For instance, for the first time, the researchers asked companies about their commitment to “women’s career advancement.” A small majority (54%) said they placed a high priority on it, and less than a majority (46%) said the same for the advancement of women of color. Another 21%, meanwhile, said they give little to no priority to advancing women. In addition, companies’ stated commitment to the broader idea of “gender diversity” has been declining since it hit a high of 88% in 2017.

The report also notes that some companies said they have scaled back programs like remote work, formal sponsorship and targeted career development, all of which have proven beneficial to women.

“In a year when corporate America is rolling back their commitment to women’s careers and women saying they’re feeling it, it feels like we’re at risk of backsliding after a decade of hard-earned, measurable progress,” said Rachel Thomas, cofounder and CEO of Lean In.

The analysis is based on three sets of data: Talent pipeline information from 2024 (eg, hiring and promotions) provided by 124 companies employing roughly 3 million people; a non-statistically representative survey done this year of chief human resource officers plus follow-up interviews with 62 of them; and a non-statistically representative third-party survey of more than 9,500 full-time employees who work for large, for-profit companies in the United States and Canada.

An opportunity gap persists

It’s hard to narrow the gender gap in managerial and leadership roles when women are promoted less than men at all levels of a company and also are less likely to have sponsors who support them.

For every 100 men who got a promotion, only 93 women did, the research showed. While that is better than the 81 recorded in last year’s report, the authors note, “the 2025 data may paint a rosier picture than reality: the companies that shared their pipeline information this year have a higher representation of women compared to typical companies [that participated in the study] from 2021 to 2024.”

As for sponsors, 66% of senior-level women surveyed said they had sponsors versus 72% of men. The gap was narrowest for mid-level employees (51% of women vs. 54% of men). And it was widest among entry-level employees (31% of women vs 45% of men).

“[T]his really matters. Employees with sponsors are promoted at nearly twice the rate of those without. … This mirrors external research showing that sponsorship accelerates advancement— particularly for early-career employees,” the report noted.

And relatedly, senior-level men were 70% more likely than women to say they’d been offered a chance to participate in leadership or career training.

Remote work also hurts women’s opportunities

The so-called “flexibility stigma” – an assumption that those working from home aren’t as committed to their jobs as in-office employees – appears to disproportionately penalize women.

For example, the study found that among women who work on-site three or more days a week, 54% had a sponsor and 53% got a promotion in the past two years. Those rates both drop to 37% for women who work remotely the majority of the week.

But for men, there is not nearly as big a drop in opportunity. Their sponsorship and promotion rates when they work primarily on site were 57% and 54%, respectively. When they work remotely a majority of weekdays those rates only drop to 52% and 49%.

Translation: When it comes to remote work, “There is an extra penalty [for women] that men don’t face. It’s pronounced. [They are] uniquely getting penalized when they choose it,” said Alexis Krivkovich, a senior partner at McKinsey.

An ambition gap exists

Women and men surveyed both expressed high commitment to their careers and motivation to do their best work. “But there is a notable gap in desire to advance this year,” the authors wrote.

Overall, 80% of women surveyed said they want to be promoted to the next level, compared to 86% of men. The gap is wider for those in entry-level and senior level positions.

Several factors may be at play, including lack of career support. “When women and men have sponsors and receive similar levels of support from managers and more senior colleagues, they are equally enthusiastic about getting promoted to the next level,” according to the study.

Promotion disparity from the jump may be another factor. Women in entry-level jobs only hold a third of the entry-level people manager roles.

And family obligations may weigh heavily. “Women continue to shoulder more responsibilities at home,” the authors wrote. “Almost 25 percent of entry- and senior-level women who are not interested in promotion say that personal obligations make it hard to take on additional work – versus just 15 percent of comparable men.”

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