Major reasons why women do not get ahead at work, per Lean In

Over the past five years, workplaces have had many conversations about harassment and equality, with the rise of Me Too and Time's Up movements. But as a result, has anything really changed for women?

It is the fifth annual "Women in the Workplace" study from the consulting firm McKinsey and Company and the organization Lean In seems to understand. For the survey, the organizations analyzed more than 68,500 employees to come to conclusions about the state of women in corporate America.

The study gathered information from 329 different organizations, employing 1[ads1]3 million people, between May and August 2019.

This is what the study's authors found.

Women are making progress in the C suite, where the proportion of women has increased from 17% to 21% in the last five years. This increase may seem small, but it shows that many companies have added women to the C-suite: Today, 44% of businesses have three or more women in their C-suite, up from 29% in 2015.

"The average the top team has one, two or three women now, "said Lareina Yee, a senior partner at McKinsey, who is the company's head of diversity and inclusion. "While it's not a complete step toward equality, we think it's very important because when you have women at the most important decision-making table weighing in, it matters to companies."

Yee says this slight increase in representation at the top can also have ripple effects.

"When you think about the women in the organization, someone who is a first leader or a VP, she can look up at the top and see role models, and women who do. She I want more confidence that she can do too

Another sign that progress may continue to close the gap: Women are still asking for campaigns and negotiating wages at the same rate as men, which has been the case for five years.

And not only are more companies offering parental leave, as opposed to just maternity leave for women, but more men are also taking that time off. In 2019, the report reports, men were about as likely as women to take leave when they became a new parent.

"It's a step in the right direction because you actually want all of your employees to be able to make time for families," says Yee.

Despite these signs of progress, there is more to be done to ensure that all women are well represented in the corporate world, the report shows.

Colorful women are underrepresented at all levels of the business. And while one of five executives in the C-suite is a woman, only one in 25 is a woman of color.

"As a woman of color in business, it's more personal," says Yee. "It's a big mismatch that starts very early … Women get stuck before they can even get through the very first campaign."

McKinsey and Lean In evaluated the first campaigns, and found that for every 100 men who got their first campaign, only 72 women are promoted. And the numbers are much smaller for women's colors, with 68 Latinas and 58 black women being promoted at that level.

"You can look at all levels of a company and you will see a great disparity for women of color," says Yee.

Many of these struggles create what McKinsey and Lean In call "the broken rung" – or the fact that women miss the first step up to the manager.

The report states that based on five years of pipeline data from hundreds of companies, this "broken ring" is the largest systemic barrier to gender parity.

An even bigger problem: The study finds that few companies are aware of this broken ring, with HR executives pointing to less access to sponsorship or lack of women throughout the pipeline instead.

And many are not aware of a problem at all: 62% of men and 54% of women say they think women are well represented at the managerial level when one of three leaders in their company is a woman. [19659002] If this "broken ring" is resolved, and women are promoted and hired as first-time chiefs at the same rates as men, McKinsey and the LeanIn survey say, 1 million women will be added to corporate America over the next five year.

There is also the question of setbacks to Me Too and Time's Up movements, which have resulted in the expulsion of a number of high profile men following revelations of abuse.

"I don't think you need research to say there is a setback," says Yee.

But the movements have sparked necessary conversations about sexual harassment, women of color at work and microaggressions in the workplace, she says. [19659002] "If it's a hard discussion, let's have that discussion. We need to have a more transparent and open workplace where we can talk about it. And I think it would be surprising if there weren't men who experience it as a unpleasant discussion. "

The best evidence in McKinsey and Lean in the study that there will be more progress in closing gender gaps: Several companies say they are committed to closing gender gaps, and they hold their leaders accountable .

The study suggests that companies can make efforts for gender equality and fix the "broken rung" problem in the hiring processes, including putting evaluators through unconscious bias training.

The study finds that companies actually less are likely to provide unconscious bias training for employees participating in entry-level evaluations, rather than senior-level review. And that despite the limitation of bias at an earlier stage has so many ripple effects.

Other solutions for companies include establishing clear evaluation criteria for hiring and promotion and requiring diving slate for hiring and promotion. Another recommendation: put more women in line for the step of leader, offering leadership training and sponsorship.

The current statistics show good room for progress: The company's commitment to gender diversity has increased from 56% in 2012 to 87% this year. But only 52% of companies offer unconscious bias training to address diversity. And only 55% of companies hold senior executives responsible for progress in diversity measurement.

There is also the more amorphous challenge of fixing corporate culture: Only 32% of women and 50% of men surveyed say they believe disrespect for women is often quickly addressed by their company. And 73% of women report that they experience discrimination every day.

"Businesses cannot necessarily just rest on their laurels and assume that their policies are the most advanced or truly working for women," says Yee.

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