Women’s Paths to Leadership Start to Narrow After 10 Years

As Chief Economist at LinkedIn, I lead a team of economists and data scientists that unearth the most interesting insights from over 830M global members. Every month I’ll share a snapshot of key trends to help shed light on where the world of work is headed. This month, we’re looking at new findings around women’s paths to leadership and the extra burdens faced by working mothers. 

The pandemic exposed all the ways in which work isn’t working for women. The picture is even more worrisome for working mothers and those with more decades of work experience looking to rise up the ranks. While women have made substantial gains in recent years in both overall leadership and board room representation, new research from LinkedIn suggests that women start to lose their footing on the leadership ladder after the first 10 years of their careers. 

The Way to the Top for Women? An Early Sprint 

In analyzing women’s paths to leadership in countries across the globe, LinkedIn researchers found that women’s best chances of securing a leadership position at work is in the 10 year window at the beginning of their careers. 

Though women have continued to make steady gains, across the board, men still make it to leadership more than women in all countries. In the 20 countries that LinkedIn looked at, the share of women in leadership doesn’t reach 50% in any of them. Sweden (37%), the U.S. (36%), and France (31%) are the countries that come closest.

For the women who do make it to the top, their window is narrower to get there: women’s  chances for advancement start to plummet beyond the first 10 year window of their career. During the first decade of their career, for every 1 woman that makes it into leadership, nearly twice (1.8) as many men make it. This gap between women and men further increases with work experience, and for every 1 woman that makes it to the top after 20 or more years, 2.2 men reach the top. Our findings show this is not just playing out in one country, but is a fairly consistent global phenomenon.

In a sense, what we’re seeing is that women who don’t “sprint” early on in their career to reach the top ranks become less and less likely to reach leadership positions as they get older. And notably, this drop-off in leadership opportunities after 10+ years coincides with the time at which many working women are starting families and taking on additional childcare responsibilities 

Childcare Concerns Among Top Factors Keeping Women Sidelined

When women leave the workforce, childcare is often a driving factor. When LinkedIn surveyed working women in the U.S. for instance, parental leave was the top reason women said they took a career break. And of those women, nearly half (48%) said they felt they had to choose between prioritizing career over their kids. 

For those juggling both career and family, even just finding childcare has become harder than ever during the pandemic. LinkedIn data shows a dramatic drop-off in the percentage of U.S. members working in childcare since 2019. And other research mirrors these findings, with Wells Fargo economists reporting that nearly half a million families have been left stranded without reliable care right now. 

The pandemic brought this issue to a head: in 2020, the share of U.S. members working in childcare dropped by 11% and it shrank again in 2021 by another 16%, according to LinkedIn data. Lack of childcare is currently a major barrier disproportionately impacting women’s career trajectories, and is likely to further fuel the leadership gender gap in the years to come if the issue persists. 

We Need to Move Beyond a One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Trajectory 

It’s clear from our findings that women who aspire to be leaders at their organizations are under immense pressure early on to “make it” to the top or not make it at all. And for many, this means sprinting to reach a leadership role before they start families and face additional childcare responsibilities - if they can even find affordable care in the first place given the current exodus of workers. 

It’s time we shift that mindset to make room for all types of career paths. Particularly for younger women who may want to start off at a steadier pace, working mothers who may need to re-prioritize during the middle of their careers, or older workers who may actually be interested in taking on more work responsibilities later on in their careers. 

There’s no reason to penalize perfectly qualified candidates who have all the experience and skills needed to take on a top job, but whose background might not fit the mold of what we expect the journey to the top to look like. 

If the pandemic era has taught leaders anything, it’s that the “old ways” of working no longer need to apply in this new world of work. We can embrace new ways of getting our work done beyond the 9-to-5 office model, just as we can embrace new ways of reaching the C-Suite. Doing so will mean greater representation and more equitable outcomes for all working women.  

Thanks to the team who helps bring this newsletter to life. Wondering how we calculate these numbers every month? See below for the methodologies behind this update. 

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Women Paths to Leadership: LinkedIn Economic Graph researchers analyzed women’s paths into leadership positions to understand how women’s career trajectories differ from those of men. A leadership role is a Director or C-suite level position. The share of females holding leadership positions reflects the number of females holding current leadership roles divided by the number of males and females in leadership positions. The time to leadership represents the average number of years between the career start date and the date of the first leadership position listed on a member profile. The career start date is the earliest of i) the first individual contributor position on a member profile and ii) the latest education graduation date listed on a member profile. The latest education date takes into account members who may return later in their career to complete further education. If not explicitly self-identified, the analysis infers the gender of members by classifying first names as either male or female or by pronouns used on LinkedIn profiles. Members whose gender could not be inferred as either male or female were excluded from this analysis.

Childcare Workers in the U.S.: LinkedIn Economic Graph researchers analyzed members who had job titles relating to childcare workers (ex. Preschool Teacher, Child Care Specialist, Childcare Provider, Childcare Worker, and Pre-Kindergarten Teacher) from 2015 - 2021, excluding interns and volunteers. Researchers analyzed the year-over-year change in the total percentage of LinkedIn members that worked in childcare, calculated by counting any members who worked at least one month in a given year in childcare.

Career Breaks Survey: January 2022 global survey of 22,995 workers and 7,047 hiring managers conducted by Censuswide on behalf of LinkedIn.