March to Equality: Advancing Women Worldwide

Getting women a fair share of leadership positions takes a collective effort. Three ways how executives and organizations can step up.

March to Equality: For International Women’s Day, Korn Ferry republished some of its key articles on gender diversity and developing women leaders.

Here’s a good reminder for International Women’s Day: Study after study shows that a critical mass of female leaders at all levels, across an organization, drives revenue and creates a distinct competitive advantage. Yet the stats remain stark. Women make up about half the population but less than one-quarter of senior leadership roles worldwide. There are 26 women leading Fortune 500 companies today, and only 21% of the directors at the nation’s largest 500 publicly-traded firms are women.

In order to get more women in leadership roles, experts say organizations, managers, and individual women need to make a joint effort. They also point out that there is plenty of potential talent to develop: Women represent about 60% of university-educated talent in North America, Europe, and many other places around the world. Korn Ferry’s webinar series, “Advancing Women Worldwide,” details a shared responsibility approach: what organizations can do, what managers can do, and what women can do.

Part 1: What organizations can do.

Part 2: What managers can do.

Part 3: What individual women can do.