Much has been written about the value of women at decision tables and proverbial glass ceiling that has kept so many from reaching them. Yet long before women reach the high rungs where they start knocking up against it, they face another barrier – the broken rung between entry level positions and management roles.
McKinsey’s 2023 Women in the Workplace report identified the “broken rung” as the most significant obstacle women encounter on the path to senior leadership. At the crucial step up to manager, women face disproportionate challenges. For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, only 87 women are promoted. In the typical company, men end up holding 60% of manager-level positions, while women hold just 40%. This disparity sets the stage for the gender gap that persists in senior leadership positions where women represent roughly one in four c-suite leaders.
With a complex array of factors contributing to this broken rung, there is no ‘one and done’ solution to repairing it. Operationalizing the “Invest in women: Accelerate progress” theme for International Women’s Day 2024 will take a collective effort – by organizations and policy makers, by female allies and by women themselves.