“We don’t have a women’s leadership program anymore, and we had to reimagine our women’s leadership training. It means some of the content is still available to women–but it’s informal, rather than a comprehensive program.”
Corporate America risks rolling back progress for women
This year, 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.
This is an addressable 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 like 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.
eleventh year
Women in the Workplace 2025
Women in the Workplace is the largest study on the state of women in corporate America. Based on data and insights from over 120 companies and 9,000 employees, this year’s report features:
- The 2025 corporate pipeline broken out by gender and race, including this year’s “broken rung”
- A detailed look at HR policies and practices that companies increased, maintained, and decreased this year—as well as an analysis of those linked to better representation of women
- Timely insights on the potential impact of AI and remote work on women and the high levels of burnout and job insecurity women in leadership are experiencing this year
- Detailed recommendations for improving fairness of opportunity and fostering an inclusive culture, supported by data from this year’s study, third-party research, and interviews with HR leaders
“Our journey on inclusion and belonging is the right one. Investing more has provided a competitive advantage for our organization.”
FOR COMPANIES
TOOLS TO DRIVE CHANGE
Lean In runs programs that advance women and improve the culture of work—and they’re available at no cost, because we believe every company should have the tools to build a fair and inclusive workplace. Lean In Circles bring small groups of employees together to learn new skills, give and get advice, and encourage each other to take action. Circle members consistently report that they learn to be more effective and inclusive leaders—and 98 percent of women credit their Circle with a positive change at work. 50 Ways to Fight Bias is a great addition to existing bias training. Rooted in research on what makes inclusion trainings effective, the program includes specific, research-based recommendations for what employees can say or do to address the biases women experience at work. Reach out to partners@leanin.org to learn why thousands of organizations use our programs and how to tailor them for your company.
McKinsey & Company has a strong track record of helping institutions modernize their talent, business processes, and organizational cultures to unlock performance and inclusion. For more than two decades, McKinsey's Organizational Health Index (OHI) has helped more than 2,600 clients globally strengthen the cultural foundations that drive performance. This survey-based diagnostic measures management practices, mindsets, and behaviors that shape organizational health, with deep-dives on organizational and employee readiness to adopt, scale, and capture value from AI. Our award-winning leadership programs equip leaders with the networks, capabilities, and mindsets needed to drive lasting impact. Through the Connected Leaders Academy, more than 108,000 leaders from over 1,400 organizations have built skills and confidence to lead authentically. Offered at no cost, this suite of programs helps professionals connect identity, authenticity, and leadership. In service of accelerating talent pipelines, our program People Leadership Edge tailored for mid-level managers to early senior people leaders, fosters the leadership skills and tools needed to motivate teams, foster collaboration, and enhance performance. Learn more about McKinsey’s client service and insights on people and organizational performance at mckinsey.com/how-we-help-clients.
ABOUT THE STUDY
Women in the Workplace is the largest study on the state of women in corporate America. Over the past 11 years, more than 1,000 companies and almost 500,000 employees have participated in the study. For this report, we collected information from 124 participating organizations employing approximately 3 million people, surveyed 9,500 employees, and conducted interviews with 62 HR leaders. In 2015, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company launched this annual study to provide companies with the insights and tools to advance women in the workplace.
LeanIn.Org report authors and contributors:
Hayley Brown, Julianna Caskie, Marianne Cooper, Brittany Cornejo, Katie DiClemente, Priya Fielding-Singh, Archana Gilravi, Sammy Goldstein, Ryan Hutson, Thamara Jean, Lizbeth Kim, Julia Kung, Lauren Lamorena, Emma Macan Roberts, Brandon McCormick, Mary Noble-Tolla, Natalie Sciortino, Emma Spitzer, Mackenzie Stasko, Taylor Steinbeck, Shelley Ong Teshima, Rachel Thomas, Nikki Tucker, Elizabeth Urban, Jemma York, Stephanie Zibell
McKinsey & Company report authors and contributors:
Olivia Bewley, Anushka Das, Claire Fogarty, Robyn Freeman, Drew Goldstein, Debra Goodson, Isha Gupta, Tara Haase, Jacquie Hudson, Richard Johnson, Ruhani Khanna, Amy Kim, Priyanka Krishnamoorthy, Alexis Krivkovich, Hannah Lee, Jiatong (Nina) Li, Doris Lynk, Megan McConnell, Margret-Ann Natsis, Akosua Ofori, Jennifer Onofrio, Susan Reed, Charmaine Rice, Camille Shen, Rahgav Singh, Mallory Smith, Elaine Soh, Emily Spittle, Aanchal Subba, Oliver Teng, Barbara Tierney, Sarah Tung, Lareina Yee, Huilin Zeng
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org would like to thank the companies and individuals that participated in this year’s study. By sharing their information and insights, they give us important visibility into the state of women in the workplace and the steps companies can take to achieve parity for all women.
We would also like to thank Qualtrics and Dynata for their help in conducting the surveys for this study and Getty Images for providing the photography used in this report and website.