For the 9th year of the Women in the Workplace report, we start with the corporate pipeline because it offers a bird’s-eye view of the state of women in corporate America. The story is both encouraging and frustrating. Over the last several years, there have been sizable gains in senior leadership. This is an important step in the right direction and shows what companies can accomplish when they focus their efforts on a well-understood problem. However, with lagging progress in the middle of the pipeline—and a persistent underrepresentation of women of color—true parity remains painfully out of reach.