Gender parity in senior roles still 25 years away, Grant Thornton warns
However, the UK has made the most progress as the number of women in senior management positions has risen by 2% from last year to 36%
Without immediate action, global gender parity in senior management roles in mid-market companies won’t be achieved until 2051, according to Grant Thornton’s International Women in Business Report.
Released ahead of International Women’s Day 2025, which will take place tomorrow (8 March), the report revealed that despite steady progress in recent years, women currently hold just 34% of senior leadership positions in mid-market companies globally – spelling an increase of only 0.5% since 2024.
However, the UK has made the most progress as the number of women in senior management positions has risen by 2% from last year to 36% – putting the UK ahead of the global average.
The percentage of businesses without any women in senior management roles in the UK has also reduced from 4% to 2%, below the global average of 4%.
Encouragingly, the global average has also reduced – from 7% in 2024 – as having no women in top roles becomes “an increasingly rare occurrence”.
Jenn Barnett, head of equity, diversity and inclusion at Grant Thornton UK, said: “The 2025 International Women in Business Report shows that the UK is outperforming the global average in terms of women’s representation in senior management positions.
“At a first glance, this is very positive news but it’s clear that progress is slow with only, at most, incremental increases being made year on year. While UK businesses are making progress in the right direction, without a dedicated focus on driving diversity, our research shows that we still won’t get to gender parity in the mid-market anytime soon.”
The research found that businesses in the UK have set gender equality targets across multiple areas. The most common were found to be around recruitment (47%), increasing women in senior leadership positions (43%) and promotions (40%). Almost half of UK businesses have a gender equality strategy for employee pay.
Some 46% of UK businesses who have put targets in place have increased their percentage of senior management roles held by women in the past 12 months.
While targets on governance – particularly board appointments – are associated with the largest increases in representation, just 29% of UK businesses have set a target on this.
According to Grant Thornton, this shows there’s a definite gap between the most common targets firms set and those that have the most significant impact.
