International Women's Day and Business: Pressure for Female Leadership Grows in the Battle for Talent

Job seekers are no longer interested in salary alone. Increasingly, they demand to see data on gender balance within top management.

Grant Thornton’s regular Women in Business report, released to mark International Women’s Day, reveals that 91.9% of mid-market leaders consider a company's gender equality initiatives when applying for a role, with two-thirds describing them as a priority.

Nearly a quarter of mid-market firms report that during the recruitment process, potential employees inquired about the gender balance of their senior management or sought evidence of commitment to programs that promote gender diversity. This represents a 14.3 percentage point increase from last year—the largest rise among all external sources requesting such information.

Mid-market firms are successfully attracting talent from larger organizations. Of the women hired into senior management positions over the past six months, 43.5% came from companies with more than 500 employees, which is well above the long-term average of 38.4%.

"Under the guidance of strong leaders, mid-market firms are standing by their investments in DE&I and gender equality," says Greg Keith, CEO of Grant Thornton International Ltd. "They see clear advantages, both in terms of business performance and talent attraction."

Leading by example. When women see female executives they can relate to, they have a stronger belief in the possibility of professional advancement. When future talent sees that a company’s strategy accounts for gender equality, the chances of them joining—and staying—increase significantly.

Research shows that roughly two-thirds of recent female promotions into senior roles were internal. Firms that scale back their gender equality initiatives risk losing these leaders and weakening their future talent pipeline.

Despite these findings, 21.9% of mid-market firms plan to scale back some of their gender equality initiatives. Globally, the proportion of women in senior management roles actually fell by 1.1 percentage points to 32.9%. Consequently, the Women in Business report urges firms to increase the visibility of their gender equality efforts to unlock new opportunities and attract top talent.

The global economy benefits from a healthy mid-market, and that market is more effective when it invests in gender-balanced leadership and promotes its benefits. It functions best when its leadership reflects the world it serves, which includes equal representation for women. To achieve this goal, we recommend that mid-market firms and their leaders:

• Leverage your influence to accelerate gender equality and business success.

• Give space to diverse voices to foster the development of gender parity.

• Increase visibility to open new opportunities and attract talent.

If you are interested in this topic, you can download the full report.

This text was translated by AI