Women only make up 30% of the C-suite — and it's up to employers to change that

Workplace diversity has proven to be a priority for most organizations, but those values are not necessarily reflected in their leadership teams. 

Women constitute 51% of employees in the workforce, according to data from employee experience platform Culture Amp, but that number drops to 39% at the vice president level and even further to only 30% at the C-suite level. This means that despite workplace diversity initiatives being in full swing, women are still facing significant challenges compared to their male counterparts. 

"I would love to say that we're seeing progress across the board, but our data revealed that it's still not quite where we would want it to be," says Julie Knight, chief marketing officer at Culture Amp. "Because for women that are looking to advance in their career, the demands from their work and the demands on their time have really accelerated." 

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Yet despite having to meet higher expectations, their efforts aren't always recognized. According to Culture Amp's findings, 100% of male C-suite executives feel their opinions are valued, compared to less than 90% of women — a disparity that widens to 25% when it comes to feeling respected. In addition, female employees are 14% less likely to get promoted than their male peers overall, according to an article from MIT Sloan, much of which has to do with the "lack of potential" employers attribute to women having competing priorities such as childcare or elder care.

"Women face the constant pressure to create a work-life balance which makes the climb much more challenging," Knight says. "It also means that VP level roles aren't always accessible to them solely because they're forced to consider what the trade-offs might be."  

As a result, more women choose to take steps back from their responsibilities at work in order to focus on their family's well-being. At the height of the pandemic, over 12 million women left the workforce due to added caregiving responsibilities. Since then, work-life imbalance continues to be the number one stressor for working women today, according to a 2023 report from digital marketing recruitment agency 24Seven, with 86% of women surveyed feeling just as – if not more – stressed than last year.

But employers have the tools to change that, according to Knight, as long as they're open to investing in more education opportunities and making mentorship available, whether it's through executive programs inside or outside the organization.

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"I'm not going to say that those are simple fixes, but they can be commonplace in an organization," Knight says. "Putting those types of programs in place and available to women and making sure they're participating in them before promotion season or before somebody is considered for a senior role can make a huge difference." 

Making those kinds of investments can also significantly improve business, underlines Knight. Since the pandemic, employees are demanding stronger connections to leadership, Culture Amp's data found, and when compared to men, women leaders were found to be more connected to the employee experience. But until those changes are realized, she encourages women to continue to advocate for themselves.

"Make sure that you're getting access to people who have made the climb — both successfully and unsuccessfully," she says. "There isn't any one path to the C-suite. They're all going to look different in opportunities, roadblocks and life changes along the way. Diversifying your perspective is a great way to invest in yourself."