Despite decades of efforts toward gender equality in the workplace, India’s corporate pipeline remains deeply skewed. A new report by McKinsey & Company titled “Women in the Workplace 2025”, reveals that the gender gap starts as early as the entry level and worsens at the first managerial promotion - pointing to a “broken rung” that derails many women’s careers before they begin to climb.
The study, conducted across 324 organisations in India, Nigeria, and Kenya - including 77 Indian private sector companies - shows that women occupy only 17% of C-suite positions and 20% of board roles in India’s formal private sector. This is despite women constituting nearly 48% of university graduates, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020–21.
The First Step Is the Hardest
The data highlights a stark disparity: women comprise just 33% of entry-level roles, which then drops sharply to 24% at the managerial level. At this critical first promotion, men are 2.4 times more likely than women to advance, while women are 1.3 times more likely to exit the workforce compared to their male peers.
This trend is not new but has now been quantified in greater detail. A 2019 study by the World Bank found that only 19.9% of the Indian labour force was female, a number that has stubbornly refused to rise, especially in formal sectors. The McKinsey report adds another layer, identifying career stagnation at early stages - not just lack of access - as a key barrier.
Aging Before Advancing
The study also found an unusual trend: women at the entry level were, on average, 39 years old compared to 32 years for men. This seven-year gap - the widest among the countries studied - suggests that many women start formal employment later, possibly due to societal norms, family responsibilities, or career breaks.
Interestingly, once women cross the first promotion hurdle, the drop-off in representation is less steep. From manager to C-suite, the decline is more gradual - from 24% to 17%. At senior vice-president levels, women even outpace men in promotion rates by half a percentage point and also show lower attrition.
Sectoral Differences and Policy Gaps
The gender gap is not uniform across industries. For example:
- In India’s legal sector, women represent 51% of entry-level roles but only 32% at the C-suite.
- In financial services, the drop is steeper - from 31% at entry level to just 13% in top leadership.
McKinsey also identified key organisational practices associated with better outcomes for women:
- Companies with strong gender representation are 34% more likely to offer flexible work.
- 33% more likely to provide mentorship and sponsorship programmes.
- 23% more likely to offer family and personal care policies.
However, execution remains a bottleneck. While 77% of companies cite gender diversity as a CEO-level priority, only 66% track basic metrics such as hiring, promotion, and attrition by gender. Shockingly, only 15% of boards hold themselves accountable for gender equity outcomes.
What Needs to Change
The report recommends a three-pronged strategy:
- Diagnose pipeline leakages by consistently tracking gender data across hiring, promotions, and exits.
- Design and implement impactful policies, such as mentorship, sponsorship, flexible hours, and childcare support.
- Monitor with accountability, making gender equity a boardroom and senior leadership responsibility.
India’s gender gap in the formal workforce is not a singular issue of representation at the top - it is a cumulative effect of early exits, missed promotions, and systemic blind spots. As the country prepares to harness its demographic dividend, closing this gap is not just about fairness - it’s about future-readiness.