The State of the Leadership Gender Gap

Although a wide gender gap still exists in a majority of countries around the world when it comes to senior leadership positions, progress is being made. According to data collected by the OECD, just under 30 percent of boardroom seats of the largest publicly listed companies in 46 major economies were held by women in 2022. This is up from just 21 percent in 2016.

New Zealand led the ranking with 46 percent of women in senior positions. It was followed by France and Iceland, while the United States lagged further behind with only 31.3 percent of senior boardroom seats filled by women. While most of the BRICS countries showed significant room for improvement, each seeing under a 20 percent share of senior positions held by females (Brazil at 19.1 percent; Russia does provide 2022 data but for 2021 the figure was 12 percent; India at 18.2 percent; China at 14.8 percent), South Africa performed comparatively better with 34.4 percent.