Beyonce told us that girls run the world, but it’s clear that women don’t quite run workplaces yet, and some countries are further behind than others on their journey to gender equality.
Where in the world? Women in Nigeria and Kenya are struggling to climb the corporate ranks, according to a new report from McKinsey, in partnership with LeanIn. Both countries show that when women have low representation in the private sector early in their careers, it follows them and creates additional barriers to advancement.
In Nigeria, women make up just one-in-three entry workers, and approximately 29% of C-suite positions.
“When recruiting, there are some roles that I wouldn’t be inclined to give to women, especially in engineering and technical services, because they are male-dominated,” an HR professional in Nigeria said in the report.
Women in Kenya have a steep dropoff of representation the higher up you go. For example, while they account for 41% of entry-level roles, women make up just 27% in the C-suite. The report pointed to what it calls a “double dip challenge,” where women face challenges to advance to manager-level roles, which in turn adds more hurdles to executive roles.
Representation also differs based on industry, the report found. For instance, women account for roughly half of entry-level roles in financial services in Kenya and Nigeria but that drops to 26% and 28% of C-suite roles, respectively. On the other hand, gender diversity is more steady in the legal industry in both countries. Women make up 59% of entry-level legal professionals in Kenya and 55% in Nigeria, with a slight dip to 55% and 49% in the C-suite.
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The report also found that employers with lower gender diversity are also less likely to establish and implement DEI programs geared towards women. As other countries have seen, certain policies, including flexible work options, mentorship, and family care options, are all essential for higher representation of women.
“My current company offers benefits that suit women…We are also intentional about diversity, equity, and inclusion, which helps us attract and retain talent,” a financial services manager in Kenya said.
Satellite view. Gender diversity and equality continues to be a global issue. Women are not only underrepresented in the workforce overall, but are frequently paid less than their male peers. Roughly half of countries have equal pay laws, and 35 have pay transparency laws, but many countries do not track the gender pay gap. Some countries, including Iceland and Sweden have narrowed the gender gap but not a single country has achieved gender parity, according to the World Bank.
Women also tend to have jobs like caregiving and education that pay less, and many workplaces are still not equipped for working parents—which ultimately limits their ability to advance their careers.
“It’s important for employers to realize disparities exist, and so do the perceptions of inequities,” Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster, told SHRM last Sept. “Awareness is key—awareness of both the lack of women in leadership roles, and how to even the playing field, and awareness that workers themselves see inequities. There are disparities between genders and their perceptions; resentment can build, too.”