International Women's Day 2025 carries the theme #AccelerateAction, emphasizing the urgent need to drive real progress for women in leadership. This is a moment to celebrate the strides that have been made while recognizing the significant challenges that remain.
The FTSE Women Leaders Review (Feb 2025) reports steady progress in the UK. Women now hold 43.4% of board positions in FTSE350 companies. Representation in leadership roles has increased to 35.3%, while the number of women Chairs has risen to 60. Women Senior Independent Directors (SIDs) now total 192, with over 56% of FTSE 350 companies having a woman SID. Additionally, the number of women Finance Directors has increased to 57. However, the number of women CEOs has declined to 19, highlighting the persistent challenges at the highest leadership levels.
Despite these advancements, achieving true parity is still a long way off.
At the current pace, it could take 22 years for white women and 48 years for women of colour to reach senior leadership parity (US data). This underscores the need for action beyond just representation at the highest levels—real progress must extend across all leadership tiers.
We explored these stats at our recent webinar, 'Unlock what really works for female talent' Watch the webinar
Headwinds: The Backlash Against DEI
While many organisations have pushed for greater inclusion, recent developments signal growing resistance. The US government’s decision to scrap all DEI initiatives in government departments is part of a broader backlash that threatens to stall progress. Similar sentiments are surfacing in corporate environments, with some companies scaling back leadership programs and sponsorship initiatives that have supported women’s career advancement.
This makes it more important than ever to focus on what really works for women in leadership—not just to sustain momentum but to ensure that women continue to have opportunities to advance, develop, and lead.
Based on research, including findings from McKinsey, IBM, and Esendia, here are key strategies that make a tangible impact.
1. The Pipeline Effect: Why Role Models Matter
Research shows that women in leadership positively influence the career progression of women in the levels directly below them. This “trickle-down effect” means that having more female leaders isn’t just symbolic—it creates a path for others to follow. However, increasing the number of women at the top alone isn’t enough; organisations must foster gender diversity at all levels.
Develop structured sponsorship programs that actively connect junior women with senior leaders who can advocate for their advancement, not just provide advice.
Highlight and promote female role models across all levels, ensuring their visibility in leadership discussions, mentorship opportunities, and high-profile projects.
Create tiered mentorship programs that support women from early career stages to executive roles, ensuring long-term career development.
2. The Myth of One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Development
Companies spend millions on leadership programs, yet most fail to produce lasting change. Why? Many programs are too generic, measuring success by participation rates rather than business impact. Women benefit most from targeted development that includes hands-on experiences, feedback, and sponsorship.
Accelerate Action:
Design leadership development as a core business function by integrating training, real-world stretch assignments, and leadership responsibilities into daily roles.
Move beyond classroom-based learning and structure development programs around key leadership experiences that prepare women for senior roles.
Ensure leadership programs are tailored to business priorities so that women gain skills that directly impact organisational goals and growth.
3. Key Experiences: The Real Accelerator of Career Growth
Research highlights that women who gain exposure to critical job experiences—such as international assignments, operational roles, and turnaround projects—are more likely to reach senior leadership.
Accelerate Action:
Create a transparent system for identifying and assigning high-impact projects to women, ensuring they receive the same career-accelerating opportunities as men.
Design career pathways that rotate women through critical business areas, increasing their visibility and strategic influence.
Ensure sponsors are actively advocating for women’s inclusion in key decision-making roles and leadership tracks, not just offering career advice.
Download our 9 Key Experiences for Future-Ready Leaders Handbook, Click here to download
4. Mentoring & Sponsorship: Two Sides of the Same Coin
While mentoring provides guidance and support, sponsorship actively opens doors. Women are often over-mentored but under-sponsored, meaning they receive advice but lack advocates who push for their promotions.
Accelerate Action:
Provide formal sponsorship training to managers, emphasizing the importance of advocating for women’s career progression through promotions and high-profile assignments.
Establish measurable sponsorship initiatives where sponsors are held accountable for helping women progress into leadership roles.
Evaluate mentorship effectiveness by tracking promotions, salary increases, and retention rates of women in leadership programs.
5. Leadership Diagnostics: Removing Bias from Assessments
Traditional promotion assessments often suffer from unconscious bias. Studies show that women are perceived as less promotable than men, even when they perform at the same level.
Accelerate Action:
Implement structured 360-degree feedback systems that use frequency-based assessments rather than subjective effectiveness ratings to minimize gender bias.
Equip assessors with bias-awareness training, ensuring feedback focuses on measurable leadership behaviours rather than personal perceptions.
Use evidence-based diagnostics to match women with leadership development opportunities based on personality insights and career aspirations.
6. Rethinking Talent Management: Simplifying for Impact
Many organisations rely on outdated frameworks like the 9-box grid, which is complex and often excludes key talent. A simpler, organisation-wide approach to talent management can be more effective and inclusive.
Accelerate Action:
Replace outdated talent grids with adaptable career-stage frameworks that recognize potential and drive continuous development.
Train managers to facilitate meaningful career conversations that result in clear action plans and follow-up on development progress.
Democratize leadership development by making career advancement pathways accessible at all levels, ensuring early identification and support for emerging female leaders.
7. Workplace Bias & Microaggressions: The Silent Career Killers
Women continue to experience biases in performance reviews and are often undermined in meetings. These microaggressions contribute to lower promotion rates and decreased career satisfaction.
Accelerate Action:
Implement training programs that teach employees how to recognize, call out, and prevent microaggressions in workplace interactions and performance evaluations.
Regularly audit hiring and promotion data to identify and address patterns of gender bias, ensuring fair and transparent career progression for women.
Establish policies that require women’s representation in leadership discussions and decision-making committees.
8. Flexibility as a Retention Strategy
With some companies rolling back remote work policies, women—who often carry greater caregiving responsibilities—are disproportionately affected. Maintaining flexible work options is key to retaining female talent.
Accelerate Action:
Implement policies that track and ensure career advancement opportunities for remote workers, particularly women with caregiving responsibilities.
Create returnship programs and leadership pathways designed for women re-entering the workforce after caregiving or other career breaks.
Integrate flexible work as a standard business practice, ensuring that career progression is not penalized for those who work remotely or part-time.
Final Thoughts: Small Tweaks, Big Impact
Developing female talent isn’t about overhauling entire systems—it’s about making targeted, evidence-based adjustments. From providing key experiences to rethinking talent management, organisations that take these steps will not only advance gender diversity but also unlock better business outcomes.
For more insights, join us for our next webinar on Rethinking Talent Management: Moving Beyond the 9-Box Grid to a Skills-Based Future on March 11th, 1-2 pm, featuring Petra Edwards, Head of Talent at Informa.
Register today: https://www.esendia.com/informa-succession-planning-webinar