Women matter: Time to accelerate- Ten years of insights into gender diversity

Globally, women generate 37 percent of global GDP despite accounting for 50 percent of the global working-age population. The global average contribution to GDP masks large variations among regions. The share of regional GDP output generated by women is only 17 percent in India, 18 percent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), 24 percent in South Asia (excluding India), and 38 percent in Western Europe. In North America and Oceania, China, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the share is 40 to 41 percent.2 For the past 10 years, McKinsey has been researching to build the case for greater parity in the economy and corporations. Through the Women Matter and Women in the Workplace series, and McKinsey Global Institute’s Power of parity reports, we have developed a global and regional understanding of the situation, built a clear economic case for change, both at the macro and micro levels, and identified common barriers and change drivers across the world, as well as specific issues or gaps to fix in some regions. Ten years after our first report, while there is momentum in some parts of the world— namely Europe, North America and some places in Asia and Latin America—women are still underrepresented in the economy and in companies’ top management. This anniversary publication provides an updated fact-based picture of the representation of women in the top management of corporations around the world and brings together the key learning from our work in gender parity over the past ten years. It includes the latest facts and insights from our studies in regions, in order to reinforce the case for change, and offers an overview of the persistent barriers as well as the critical levers needed to make change happen.