International Women’s Day (IWD) falls on the March 8^th each year. This year’s campaign theme, “Accelerate Action,” highlights the urgent need for progress as data from the World Economic Forum predicts that, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity – roughly five generations from now. 

In this article, we look at how the theme of “Accelerate Action” poses the challenge of how to drive meaningful change for women, and in particular, women in leadership. We examine leadership representation, the benefits of gender diversity, recent legal developments in the UK and what employers can do to advance women into leadership.

Women in leadership – pay and representation

Gender equality in leadership can be measured in several ways, including through examining gender pay gaps and women’s representation:

1. Gender pay gap: A recent 2024 survey demonstrates some key trends in pay between men and women in the UK, including that the gender pay gap is larger for full-time employees aged 40 years and over compared to those under 40 years and is also larger among higher earners. Recent 2024 research also reports that the average pay for board members of FTSE 100 companies is £335,953 for women compared to £1,073,445 for men, reflecting a 68% pay disparity.
2. Women’s leadership representation: The FTSE Women Leaders Review: Achieving Gender Balance 2025 reported that the representation of women on FTSE 350 Boards has increased from 9.5% in 2011 to 43.4% as of February 2025 – surpassing its 40% target set for the end of 2025. However, women’s representation in senior leadership roles within the FTSE 100 stood at 36.3%. In the United States, a report shows that “it would take 48 years for the representation of White women and women of color in senior leadership to reflect their share of the US population.”

Although data doesn’t necessarily explain the underlying reasons, gender equality (at least in respect of pay gaps and representation) is more marked as women move up the ladder of seniority, highlighting there is some way to go for gender parity for women in leadership.

The benefits of gender balance in leadership

Gender balance in a leadership team brings significant advantages. McKinsey has evidenced that companies with greater diversity on their boards of directors are more likely to outperform financially, with companies in the top quartile for board-gender diversity reported as being 27% more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile. This same study also demonstrates that the business case for gender balance on executive teams has more than doubled over the past decade.

Advantages are also not just seen by looking at the bottom line; a diverse leadership team also enriches organisations with different perspectives that can help drive innovation, enhance decision-making, and foster a more inclusive, balanced workplace culture. As this study states, “increasing female representation in the boardrooms will help achieve long-term sustainable change in the workplace, responsible governance and competitiveness in the global marketplace.”

Legal developments

Looking first to the UK, underpinning the concept of gender equality are laws that have been around for some time, including equal pay laws and the anti-discrimination provisions set out in the Equality Act 2010. More recently, since 2017, large private and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more employees have had to publish their gender pay gap data. In addition, the new Labour Government indicated in its Plan Make Work Pay that it wants to “go further and faster” to close the gender pay gap, including by requiring those subject to the mandatory pay gap reporting to develop and publish equality action plans (see our Policy Hub).

The recent push to close the gender pay gap faster can also be witnessed in the EU, which has prioritised its commitment to closing gender gaps in the labour market, as set out in its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and evidenced from its recent legislative efforts, including:

• The Women on Boards Directive, which mandates that by June 30, 2026, listed companies must ensure that members of the underrepresented sex hold at least 40% of non-executive director positions or 33% of all director positions (including executive and non-executive directors).
• The EU Pay Transparency Directive (which we have written about here), which aims to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through significant and binding pay transparency and other enforcement mechanisms. EU Member States have until June 7, 2026, to implement the Directive’s requirements.

It seems on a political and legislative level, at least in the UK and the EU, change is afoot to try to push closer to gender equality in the workplace, particularly for pay equality and representation (the position in the United States is different, as we have written about here).

Five key steps to “Accelerate Action” and advance women in leadership

The IWD campaign calls on everyone to “Accelerate Action,” including increasing women’s leadership and representation in the workplace. In addition to any legal obligations to which an employer must comply, employers could choose to take their own steps.

Five key steps include:

1. Secure leadership commitment – Leaders should demonstrate public commitments to gender equality and promoting women’s advancement. Leaders could set measurable diversity goals to be held accountable for progress.
2. Get the most out of recruitment and promotion practices – Eliminate any potential biases in recruiting and promotion processes. This could be through introducing blind hiring processes, using gender-balanced interview panels or crafting inclusive job descriptions that use gender neutral terminology or titles. Consider introducing clear job frameworks, with transparent pay banding and clear pathways for advancement and promotion.
3. Provide work-life integration support – Evidence shows that women, particularly those at the time they are reaching leadership positions, are often dealing with other out of work responsibilities (such as being mothers and caring for elderly parents) in addition to managing the symptoms of menopause. Employers could provide support by offering policies for: flexible working that can help women thrive (such as job-sharing opportunities), enhanced parental leave (that encourage both mothers and fathers to share responsibility for childcare), providing assistance for caregivers and introducing menopause training and policies.
4. Mentorship and sponsorship – Understanding and supporting women as individuals to become leaders is important. This can be achieved through establishing mentorship and sponsorship programs, where senior women leaders mentor juniors and senior leaders encourage women in the business to advocate and support for their career advancement.
5. Foster an inclusive culture – Employers should seek to cultivate a workplace culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion, where women feel valued, respected, and supported. Training on unconscious bias for leaders and employees can help to highlight some of the barriers women face in the workplace and place inclusion at the forefront.

By combining these efforts, employers can create an environment where women are empowered to succeed throughout the business and into leadership.

*Darcey Phillips is a Paralegal at GQ | Littler.