IWD 2025: Accelerate Action Recommit to Equity

To truly meet the promise of IWD 2025, we need to recommit to equity – as progress for women at work isn’t what we may think, and isn’t for all women.

Saying We Have A Long Way to Go Doesn’t Cut It Anymore

I usually welcome IWD. Celebrating women’s accomplishments, taking stock of progress and advocating for continued action alongside like-minded people energizes me and strengthens my commitment to helping create a more just and life-sustaining world.

This year is different. I’ve been dreading the IWD season and its abundance of slogans, luncheon panels, and networking opportunities. I’ve been bracing myself to hear the usual refrain that follows discussions about the current status of women and equity in our workplaces: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

The administration of the world’s largest economy has banned diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the government and many corporations have subsequently scaled back their equity, diversity and inclusion programs – helping to normalize the rejection of the values and practices of equity – so sentiments like “We’ve still got a long way to go,” don’t come close to meeting the moment.

Even before these developments, research showed that progress for women at work is not as significant as we may think, has not been for all women, and is at best, fragile, and companies’ commitments to advancing equity goals had been declining well before current events shaping our world began to threaten progress.

Our IWD 2025 celebrations must reflect today’s realities by recognizing what’s at risk, confronting the challenges women face in the workplace, and strengthening our commitment to meaningful progress for all women and broader equity goals.

Turning to the latest research on the state of women in the workplace can ground our efforts in reality. Better understanding women’s experiences and what is and isn’t working is needed to effectively accelerate action in the shifting political, social, and economic contexts, which are becoming increasingly inhospitable to the values and practices of equity.

Workplaces Haven’t Changed Much For Women

Findings from the largest research study on the state of women in US workplaces were released by McKinsey & Company last fall in the “Women in the Workplace 2024: The 10th Anniversary Report” and there wasn’t much to celebrate.

Seeking to understand the progress, decline and stagnation of women’s representation and workplace experience, the research analyzed data from the previous 10 years and highlighted findings from the 2024 study. In total more than 1000 companies participated in the study and more than 480,000 people were surveyed about their workplace experiences.

With an intersectional view at the specific biases and barriers faced by Asian, Black, Latina, LGBTQ+ women, younger women and women with disabilities, findings give a picture of what progress has and hasn’t been achieved, who’s benefitted, while highlighting the practices of successful companies.

What follows is a summary of some of the key findings. Complete findings including recommendations for next steps can be found here.

For Canadian readers: While McKinsey & Company has gathered research from Canadian workplaces over the years and reported on these findings, neither a ten-year study nor a 2024 report was found.

Gains Fewer Than They Appear – Especially for Women of Colour.

While companies have taken action, leading to some progress, gains for women are less extensive than they appear, systemic barriers exist, workplace culture has been slow or resistant to change, and company efforts are waning.

“Over the past decade, women have made important gains at every level of the corporate pipeline, especially in senior leadership. Yet progress is surprisingly fragile, especially for women of colour, who continue to be underrepresented at every level and who view gender and race as obstacles to their advancement. In many instances, women’s outlook and day-to-day experiences are not much different, or are even worse, than they were nearly a decade ago.” _{(September 17, 2024, Women in the Workplace 2024: The Tenth Anniversary Report, McKinsey & Company)}

Summary of Some Key Findings

Modest Gains in Leadership: Women now hold 29% of C-suite roles, up from 17% in 2015. However, women’s progress has been slower than at earlier stages of the pipeline, e.g., at entry level, representation rose from 45% to 48%, and from 37% to 39% at manager level from 2015 – 2024.
Persistent Gender Gap: Men still outnumber women at every level of the pipeline and representation declines as women advance in seniority. Women of colour face even steeper disparities, holding only 7% of C-suite positions.
“Broken Rung”: Women remain less likely than men to be hired into entry-level roles and far less likely to receive their first promotion to manager. In 2024, for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women were – a negligible improvement from 79 in 2018.
Fragile Progress at Higher Levels: Increase in women’s representation at VP and SVP levels is due to a reduction in operational roles typically held by men, and the addition of new staff and support role functions which women were then hired for – therefore gains don’t reflect sustainable trends or advancement of women through the pipeline into leadership roles
Parity – Long Way Off: At the current rate, white women will reach parity in senior leadership in 22 years, while for women of colour it will take 48 years.
Stuck Culture: Microaggressions and bias continue, not well understood or addressed by employees and management.

Workplaces Largely Unchanged – Men More Optimistic Than Women About How Things Have Improved for Women

Lack of Progress: Women’s optimism about career advancement has not improved, and in 2024, as compared with six years ago, Asian, Black, and Latina women are more likely to perceive their race as an obstacle to advancement.
Insufficient Managerial Support: Less than half of women report getting their managers’ help to advance or navigate work challenges, with women of color reported receiving even less support than white women reported.
Ageism Affects Young Women: Women under 30 were almost twice as likely as young men to field unwanted comments about their age, and half say their age played a role in missing out on opportunities at work.
Microaggressions Persist: Women continue to experience microaggressions as often today as several years ago, and women, particularly LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities, remain more likely than men to experience microaggressions, making it harder for them to speak up, take risks and raise concerns at work, and they reported demeaning interactions and othering, eroding a sense of belonging, at the highest rates.

As we mark International Women’s Day 2025, we need to confront the fact that progress for women in the workplace may not be what we believed or hoped for.

If you are a white, straight, cis, able-bodied woman or man, and you’re surprised by any of these findings – anticipate that your friends and colleagues with different identities and experiences likely aren’t.

Progress – Places to Build From

Increased Support for Employees: More companies now offer benefits for parents, caregivers, and employees managing health challenges, improving happiness and retention.
Increased Workplace Flexibility: Hybrid and remote work have significantly increased, improving employee productivity and reducing burnout – especially for women.
Efforts to Debias Hiring & Performance Reviews: Some companies have implemented structured hiring and evaluation criteria to reduce bias, but only 25% have fully adopted the practices needed for real impact.
More Training on Inclusion & Allyship: Companies are encouraging employees and managers to foster inclusive cultures and offering more training, but training does not appear to be translating into greater awareness or action as employees are not much more likely to recognize bias against women or act as allies to women of colour.

Challenges & Areas for Improvement

Scaling Back of Women’s Advancement Programs: Fewer companies prioritize gender and racial diversity, with declines in mentorship, sponsorship, and recruiting programs aimed at women, and particularly women of colour.
Limited Manager Action: Despite training, managers are not consistently taking steps to improve career development, inclusion and employee well-being.
Lack of Progress in Recognizing and Addressing Bias: Employees’ awareness (both male and female) of microaggressions, in particular toward women of colour, and of gender bias has not significantly improved, and men are far more optimistic than women about how women’s opportunities have improved over the last decade.

_{*Parts of this research summary were generated by AI, then fact-checked for accuracy.}

No Time to Pull Back – Recommit and Act

Understanding and acknowledging the current situation for women in the workplace—particularly those who are not benefitting equally —women of colour, LGBTQ+ individuals, young women, and women with disabilities—is a critical first step toward enacting change. This is particularly important as many find themselves in contexts where support for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion goals is being dialled back or formally restricted, and the pressure to pull back, given the concerning uncertainty of the times, is strong.

But this is exactly what we can’t do. The study authors conclude that deep, systemic change requires changes to mindsets and behaviours, is messy and nonlinear and that we’re somewhere in the middle of the change with efforts stalling. And things just got messier.

Acting on what the research tells us will help ensure that our workplaces continue to uphold commitments to inclusivity, respect, and belonging, providing everyone with a fair opportunity to succeed.

Leaders need to draw on the recommendations from this and other research, and follow the best practices gained by what’s worked for other companies – recommitting and taking action – as the business case for advancing equity remains unchanged.

In settings where equity practices are now restricted, companies and organizations need to seek guidance from legal, and other experts, and take steps to ensure inclusion and diversity remain priorities and that initiatives are lawful.

We all need to refresh, or put our learning from bias and microaggression trainings into practice. Research demonstrates that harms from ongoing and everyday experiences of bias take the heaviest toll on people, and damage workplace culture by undermining respect, dignity, belonging and inclusion.

Stakes are as High Today as When IWD Celebrations Began

The reality is that as we celebrate IWD 2025 and strive to accelerate change, we are doing so as our values and progress underpinning our efforts are under threat.

The stakes are high today as they were when International Women’s Day celebrations first began in the early 1900s. Now, as then, the political, legal, social and cultural contexts of women’s lives and work were in flux and struggles for gender and racial equality, improved working conditions, and democracy were underway.

A clear and shared understanding of where we’re at and what we’ve got to lose can remind us of what’s important, igniting our refusal to let our humanity be diminished while bolstering our determination to act.

Let’s be inspired to truly meet this moment of celebration and take the opportunity to build on progress, committing more deeply to the values and goals of equity, diversity and inclusion and being a part of creating the kinder and more just world that these values and goals can bring about.