The business world is no stranger to change. Over the past few years, industries have adapted to technological disruptions, shifting consumer behaviors, and evolving workforce expectations.
Yet, one area where progress remains stubbornly slow is gender equality.
Women made up 49.7% of the world’s workforce in 2023, yet they hold only about 29% of managerial positions worldwide. And the World Economic Forum (WEF) projects a scary prospect – it will take 134 years to close the gender gap.
Despite the well-documented benefits of diverse leadership—ranging from improved profitability to stronger innovation—women continue to face barriers that keep them from realizing their full potential. Barriers like lack of flexibility, discriminatory pay scales, motherhood penalties, social attitudes, and so on, which are systemic and deep-rooted.
The theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 is ‘Accelerate Action’. Why the need to focus on this? Because “‘Accelerate Action’ emphasizes the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.”
So, how can businesses accelerate the journey toward a diverse, inclusive and equitable world? How can leaders deliver tangible results that benefit both their organizations and the communities they serve?
The path forward requires more than intent, and demands deliberate action. Let’s explore a few of those.
Champion Women’s Leadership
Gender-diverse leadership is a proven competitive advantage. McKinsey says that businesses who are particular about gender diversity in their leadership have a 21% higher chance to be profitable. Companies with women in executive roles are also more likely to innovate and achieve better customer experiences.
One effective way to ensure more women feature in your leadership team is by fostering sponsorship programs. Unlike mentorship, which focuses on guidance, sponsorship involves actively advocating for talented women, helping them gain access to high-profile projects and decision-making roles. Prioritizing sponsorship helps at every stage of progression, and effectively addresses key issues like the broken rung to positively impact women’s career trajectories.
Close the Pay Gap with Intentional Action
Pay gap has remained an enduring issue through the years and is one of the most glaring indicators of inequality in the workplace. It is also, primarily, a problem of culture. The root causes of the gender pay gap lie in the lack of childcare facilities, safety mechanisms, laws unfavorable to women, and so on. When women are unable or struggle to access facilities just to get to work it affects their pay. Women are also often seen differently, with subjective assessments of personality or likability influencing outcomes.
Businesses can make a difference by taking measurable steps and ensuring women empowerment through women-friendly workplaces – facilitating better childcare opportunities, conducting regular audits of compensation structures, revising policies that inadvertently perpetuate bias, ensuring transparency in salary decisions, addressing bias in performance evaluations, and more.
Empowerment through Education and Training
Fifty-eight percent of graduates are women but they represent less than 25% of degrees earned in STEM subjects like physics and engineering. When it comes to work, women comprise only 35% of the tech workforce.
Evidently, the path to gender equality starts long before women enter the workforce, with education. Whether it’s a lack of resources, cultural expectations, or limited access to technology, or barriers to exercising their women’s rights, these challenges have a ripple effect on future career opportunities.
Businesses can change things by investing in initiatives that promote girls’ education and skill development. This could mean funding scholarships, partnering with organizations to improve digital access, or supporting programs that encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM and leadership.
Enhance the Feeling of Safety
A workplace cannot be truly inclusive if it isn’t safe. And it looks like it isn’t – approximately 18% of employed people across the world have experienced some form of gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence and harassment continue to be pervasive issues that undermine trust, productivity, and employee well-being making it imperative for businesses to address the issue.
The first step is to create a culture where harassment and discrimination are unequivocally unacceptable. Let leaders set an example and demonstrate zero tolerance for behavior that compromises safety and inclusivity. Implement robust policies, provide training, and establish confidential reporting mechanisms. Bringing in some comprehensive changes including support for survivors or victims and implementing gender-sensitive policies would also help.
Remove Gaps using Technology
A digital divide disproportionately affects women, limiting their opportunities to learn, work, and participate fully in the economy. Economies are getting digitized but not all women have access to participate in the workforce.
Businesses can help bridge this gap by focusing on digital inclusion. Leveraging data to understand the unique barriers women face, nominating champions for digital equality in gender, including women in tech-focused projects, offering women tech leadership roles, and so on, are just a few key steps in narrowing the digital gender divide. Enabling women to be fully connected to a digital universe and infrastructure can go a long way in their participation and contribution.
An organization can change the world for women. Veering away from being a traditional workplace requires thinking differently. Like normalizing modern family structures, which includes same-sex relationships, for instance. These gestures speak volumes towards your support of inclusivity, empowering female employees, and your commitment towards seeing women succeed.
Are you ready to Accelerate Action this year and celebrate women’s achievements?
