It’s been over 100 years since the first International Women’s Day and close to 30 years since the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, which provided a global framework for advancing gender equality. Today, in discussions on gender equality, many voices - across sectors, geographies, and in politics - echo the same sentiment: While there has been progress, it remains frustratingly slow and uneven. Significant gaps between genders remain, and achieving true equality continues to be a major challenge.
In the close to three decades since the Beijing conference, we have made significant strides. The average share of women in parliaments across the world more than doubled from 11% to 26%. The number of women serving as executive heads of state increased from 4 in 1995 to 17 in 2024, reflecting progress with intermittent fluctuations. Literacy rates among women have risen from 71% to 84%, narrowing the gap with male rates (male literacy rates moved from 83% to 90% in this period). Maternal mortality rates have declined from over 350 to 223. While signifying progress, the numbers in itself highlight the disparities that persist today.
Women are significantly underrepresented in fields including finance, energy and politics. Even in sectors where women have a significant workforce representation, such as education and healthcare, issues like the gender pay gap persist.
Half of the voting population in each country consists of women, yet women account for less than 30% of the representatives we elect. Societal norms, gender biases, discriminatory policies, and disparities in access to resources and opportunities collectively contribute to the underrepresentation of women in politics. While we have seen progress in implementing gender quotas and the election of female heads of state in recent years, progress is slow, and true balance in political representation remains a distant goal.
While a few countries like Rwanda showcase impressive strides towards gender parity in parliament, the stark reality is that only a handful of nations (6) have achieved equal representation. A significant portion of countries need more meaningful female representation in government, with women making up less than 10% of parliament seats in 27 countries. Cabinet positions overseeing defense and local government portfolios are predominantly occupied by men, leaving women with only 10% representation in these crucial leadership roles.
The number of women founding and leading businesses is also an indicator of progress toward economic empowerment, and while progress has been made, women still face significant obstacles to leadership. 2023 saw a high of 53 women CEO’s in the Fortune 500, surpassing 10% for the first time, but still representing a dismal number of leaders that represent $18 trillion in revenue in 2023. A similar pattern can be seen across other groupings, with women accounting for just 8% of the S&P 500 CEO's. More progress has been made with female board appointments, with women directors increasing by 31% across the STOXX 600 in the past 5 years, and 54% of companies on the Russell 3000 with three or more female directors in 2023, compared to 18% in 2018.
Women In Impact
Globally, women dominate the teaching and health care professions, but in both sectors, their representation declines as seniority levels rise. In education leadership, women are underrepresented, and the gender pay gap widens in academia. In EdTech, women CEOs are slowly increasing, indicating a positive trend. Regional variations exist, with Europe leading, but challenges persist in certain sectors. Despite progress, encouraging more women in EdTech could diversify perspectives, benefiting learners and fostering a more inclusive industry. In healthcare, despite their representation in the workforce, gender equality remains elusive, marked by a significant 24% wage gap and persistent discrimination. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated challenges, leading to increased burnout and attrition among women. In leadership, women hold less than 15% of Fortune 500 healthcare companies. Despite challenges, health innovation sees a positive trend, with women's leadership reaching 18% in 2023.
In the energy sector, women occupy only 32% of renewable energy jobs, with initiatives like the Equal 30 campaign aiming to address gender parity. In infrastructure, only 10.8% of US construction workers are women, but there's progress in higher-paying roles, while the global transportation industry has a 17% female workforce. Women remain underrepresented in the environmental sector, while in Climate Tech, women hold just 10% of leadership roles. Despite challenges, the nascent nature of Climate Technology presents opportunities for increased women's participation. Given that Climate Technology is an emerging sector, it equally offers vast opportunities for greater women's participation as opposed to legacy industries.
Each year, HolonIQ identifies the most promising 1000 EdTech, 1000 Health Tech and 1000 Climate Tech startups globally, which collectively represent industry disruptors as well as the future economic and social leaders across impact sectors. Reflecting broader trends, the proportion of women-led startups across remains low, with 17% of women CEOs in EdTech, 18% in Health Tech and 10% in Climate Tech startups. 2023 sees some improvements on the previous year, however much work remains to back women who are founding and leading startups, particularly to eliminate the gender financing gap, where less than 2% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the US and Europe were founded by women.
Figure 2. Women CEOs in Impact Sector Start-ups Globally
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