Number of women in top jobs drops third year in row, WEF report says
The number of women hired to senior leadership positions has slowed for a third consecutive year, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report published on Thursday.
The report, which covers 148 economies, says that despite women representing 41.2% of the global workforce, only 28.8% of them reach senior leadership roles.
Between 2015 and 2024, the share of women in top management rose from 25.7% to 28.1%, but progress has slowed post-2022.
"In many sectors, top-level gains are outpacing mid-level promotions, risking the sustainability of balanced talent pipelines. As cross-industry experience rises, particularly among women, nonlinear career paths are becoming more common," the report added.
Overall, the global gender gap has narrowed to 68.8%, the most significant improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic. But even at this rate, full parity is still 123 years away, the data suggested.
Iceland maintains its position as the world's most gender-equal economy for the 16th year in a row, with 92.6% of its gender gap closed.
Finland (87.9%), Norway (86.3%), the UK (83.8%) and New Zealand (82.7%) are also in the top five.
Saadia Zahidi, a Managing Director at the World Economic Forum, said that "economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative and more resilient economic progress."
According to data fed into the report by global job website LinkedIn, which has 1 billion members, shutting women out of leadership roles has economic consequences.
At the same time, AI is reshaping the world of work and is demanding new skills from business leaders.
LinkedIn data suggests that women are 20% more likely to have varied careers, where they develop skills that mean they are now uniquely positioned to navigate, and lead in, the AI economy.
Sue Duke, Global Head of Public Policy at LinkedIn, said: "As the global economy is transformed, especially by AI, women must be empowered to deploy the skills and expertise they've developed over the course of their flexible careers."
Ukraine and Russia carried out another exchange of prisoners of war on Thursday, based on the Istanbul deal of 2 June.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the latest swap focused on "severely wounded and seriously ill warriors."
Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the POW issued a statement, saying "this is part of a major exchange that continues in phases."
"These soldiers require urgent medical care and will receive full assistance, including psychological rehabilitation and financial compensation for their time in captivity," the coordination HQ said.
Kyiv is not revealing how many Ukrainian defenders have been exchanged at each stage. Ukrainian authorities are expected to release this information once the exchange is completed.
Kyiv announced that many of the severely injured soldiers who had returned home on Thursday had served in combat operations across Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Some of the returned soldiers have been considered "missing" while many have been in Russian captivity for over three years.
Kyiv and Moscow have been carrying out prisoner-of-war swaps for the last couple of days. During the Istanbul talks, the sides have agreed to exchange young soldiers under 25 and the severely injured and sick POWs.
They have also agreed to repatriate the bodies of the soldiers.
On Wednesday, Ukraine said it brought back the bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders. The repatriation was carried out through a coordinated effort involving the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry, the Ombudsman's Office, the State Emergency Service, and other national security and defence institutions.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also supported the operation.
Officials emphasised that investigative and forensic teams from the Interior Ministry and the Health Ministry are working to identify the bodies in the shortest possible time.
Vladimir Medinsky, aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the Russian delegation at the Istanbul talks, claimed that Ukraine released the remains of 27 Russian service members.
The Ukrainian side did not disclose how many Russian bodies were handed over to Moscow.
After the meeting in Turkey on 2 June, Medinsky said that Russia would transfer 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and officers.
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LeMonde
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