Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Slow climb to the C-suite
Diversity & Inclusion | Organization
October 24, 2023 – Women’s representation in the corporate pipeline has made modest gains in recent years, according to the most recent Women in the Workplace report. Senior partners Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee and coauthors note that although the number of women in the C-suite has jumped 11 percentage points since 2015, women of color remain underrepresented across corporate positions.
To read the report, see “Women in the Workplace 2023,” October 5, 2023.
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Visual form
Corporate-pipeline composition chart built from stage-by-stage stacked columns. It tracks representation through the hierarchy rather than over calendar time.
Layout / body structure
The chart reads left to right from entry level through manager, senior manager or director, vice president, senior vice president, and the C-suite. Notes below the main columns add comparison lines for total women in 2023, total women in 2018, and the five-year percentage-point change.
What is being compared
It compares representation by gender and race across successive corporate levels, with special attention to the differences between women overall and women of color as the pipeline narrows.
Measurement system
The units are percentages of employees within each role level. Color and segment position separate demographic groups inside each stage, and the notes underneath add the historical comparison.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The chart is organized as a series of stacked columns across the hierarchy, with each stack broken into demographic segments and a comparison strip underneath. This layout lets the viewer compare both the internal mix at a given level and the way that mix changes from one level to the next.
Main takeaway from the visual
The pipeline improves only gradually for women overall and still thins sharply for women of color near the top. The eye can follow the shrinking female share as the roles become more senior, especially once the chart reaches vice president, senior vice president, and the C-suite.
Key standout values or extremes
The most visible standout is the narrowing of the female segments in the rightmost stages, alongside the persistent dominance of white men in the senior tiers. The chart is built to emphasize that any gains are modest and uneven rather than broad and uniform.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.