When women hold leadership roles, Canadian businesses, local economies, and communities don’t just improve—they thrive. More innovation, higher inclusivity, and better social and economic outcomes happen when women have a seat at the table. Without women representation in decision-making, there’s risk of imbalanced perspectives, weakened performance, and for inequality to prevail. This is a universal truth here in Canada and across the globe.
Women business leaders increase productivity, improve fairness, and inspire organizational dedication by creating more inclusive workplaces. [i]
For 21 years, Grant Thornton International has tracked the proportion of women occupying senior management roles in small- and medium-sized businesses in Canada and around the world. The last five years have seen sustained growth on this key measure and, as a result, parity could be reached in 2051—but that simply isn’t soon enough.
At the current rate of progress, a young woman starting her career today will be working for more than a quarter of a century before she can expect to work at a small- or medium-sized business with gender parity in top roles. As business leaders, we must act now to increase the pace towards parity—we owe it to women and to the economies and societies that sustain us. Even more appropriate is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day: ‘Accelerate Action.’[ii] One of the strategies outlined by the global movement is ‘supporting women and girls into leadership, decision-making, and business.’ We simply can’t afford another missed generation.
Given that small- and medium-sized businesses make up most of Canada’s economy—accounting for 98% of employer businesses (0.3% are large businesses)[iii], as well as the global economy, accounting for 90% of all businesses—[iv]there’s pressure and a responsibility to accelerate action on gender.
Our Women in Business research demonstrates what many business leaders know: that gender balanced teams can bring better performance.
Despite understanding that gender diversity is a fuel for potential growth, many businesses often lack a clear purpose behind their gender equality strategies. If businesses pass up on the growth opportunities offered by better balanced teams, this will have repercussions on economies across the world.
This year’s research gives a sense of optimism and signals there’s still a great deal to learn. Businesses that have faced external pressure say the percentage of women in senior leadership has increased over the last year as a result. The most potent pressure for change comes from clients, investors, partners, and external advisors. The pressure is paying off and by taking action to increase gender diversity, small- and medium-sized businesses are more attractive to those external parties that they depend on for growth. While businesses are also putting pressure on themselves, it’s clear they still lack understanding on why they need to do this as well as the true value diverse senior teams can bring.
In Canada, 34.7% of women hold senior management positions in small- and medium-sized businesses. While a slight decrease from last year (35.5%), we’re still on par with the global average of 34%, or more than one in three senior management roles being held by women. This is a global increase of 0.5pp compared to 2024 and shows that progress towards parity in senior roles has been tracking above the trend for the last five years. The closest any country has come to reaching parity is the Philippines at 48.8% in 2023. Canada’s highest reach toward parity was 38.6% in the same year.
Thanks to this collective progress, the point at which we expect half of all senior roles to be held by women has been brought forward from 2053 to 2051. This is a positive step for women and for businesses. But with parity still over a quarter of a century away, there's more work to do. Gender parity is not just a matter of equality for its own sake. It’s also of paramount economic importance. Research from the International Monetary Fund suggests closing the gender gap in developing markets could lift GDP in these countries by an average of 23%. [v]
Small- and medium-sized businesses that accelerate progress towards more balanced leadership teams are supporting economic and social development. They will also benefit from creating higher performing teams and better business outcomes.
Very few small- and medium-sized businesses have no women in top leadership positions, as leaders have grown to understand that it’s bad for business. In Canada, 6.8% of businesses have no women in senior management positions while 12.1% say that have only one woman in a senior role.
Globally, 4.1% of businesses say they have no women in their senior teams, down 2.6pp from 6.7% last year. In China, Indonesia, and the United States there are no small- or medium-sized businesses with all-male leadership. Given the significant proportion of businesses they account for, this represents a seismic shift in the percentage of women in senior management across the workforce in key economies.
| % women in senior management | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Country Name | Country Code | X Coordinate | Y Coordinate | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2007 | 2004 |
| Global | GL | 92.5 | 118 | 34.0% | 33.5% | 32.4% | 31.9% | 31.2% | 28.7% | 28.8% | 24.1% | 24.5% | 23.5% | 22.3% | 24.0% | 24.2% | 20.9% | 20.2% | 23.9% | 24.1% | 19.4% |
| Argentina | AR | 27 | 11 | 34.9% | 30.8% | 29.4% | 30.5% | 30.8% | 23.6% | 19.8% | 22.9% | 15.0% | 17.6% | 15.7% | 25.0% | 18.1% | 19.5% | 18.3% | 17.4% | ||
| Australia | AU | 92 | 15 | 36.5% | 39.6% | 39.5% | 32.0% | 32.4% | 28.4% | 41.9% | 15.1% | 23.3% | 22.9% | 22.0% | 22.0% | 22.5% | 24.2% | 27.1% | 23.0% | 21.9% | 22.1% |
| Brazil | BR | 28.5 | 24.6 | 36.7% | 37.1% | 38.6% | 37.8% | 39.0% | 34.4% | 25.4% | 29.5% | 18.7% | 18.5% | 15.2% | 22.0% | 23.1% | 26.5% | 23.7% | 28.7% | 42.0% | |
| Canada | CA | 16 | 70 | 34.7% | 35.5% | 38.6% | 30.4% | 35.6% | 32.0% | 28.4% | 25.0% | 23.4% | 26.4% | 25.1% | 23.0% | 26.6% | 25.1% | 27.8% | 27.9% | 18.6% | 22.4% |
| China | CN | 80 | 48 | 35.3% | 32.6% | 35.4% | 32.3% | 28.6% | 31.4% | 28.3% | 30.9% | 31.3% | 29.8% | 24.7% | 38.0% | 39.0% | 25.2% | 33.8% | 31.4% | 31.9% | |
| Egypt | EG | 57.1 | 37.7 | 30.3% | |||||||||||||||||
| France | FR | 46 | 53 | 37.7% | 37.9% | 34.8% | 31.1% | 32.9% | 27.9% | 18.5% | 32.8% | 30.9% | 28.0% | 32.6% | 24.0% | 25.7% | 23.8% | 21.2% | 17.8% | 21.2% | 20.7% |
| Germany | DE | 52 | 56 | 30.1% | 30.6% | 29.9% | 34.9% | 38.2% | 29.8% | 35.5% | 23.2% | 18.4% | 15.2% | 14.0% | 14.0% | 31.3% | 12.9% | 11.4% | 17.4% | 11.6% | 16.3% |
| Greece | GR | 54.7 | 46.3 | 30.7% | 31.6% | 36.8% | 28.3% | 32.6% | 24.5% | 21.8% | 26.0% | 19.8% | 26.7% | 27.0% | 29.0% | 29.5% | 21.3% | 29.9% | 23.0% | 20.6% | 22.0% |
| India | IN | 72 | 36 | 36.5% | 33.9% | 36.0% | 38.0% | 39.1% | 29.9% | 28.2% | 19.8% | 16.9% | 16.2% | 15.2% | 14.0% | 18.9% | 14.5% | 9.2% | 15.4% | 13.9% | 11.7% |
| Indonesia | ID | 91 | 28 | 36.3% | 37.4% | 38.7% | 38.1% | 37.7% | 36.6% | 31.9% | 42.6% | 45.6% | 36.2% | 20.2% | 41.0% | ||||||
| Ireland | IE | 41 | 57 | 36.5% | 36.0% | 40.3% | 30.5% | 32.8% | 31.1% | 34.9% | 31.8% | 26.0% | 19.1% | 24.4% | 23.0% | 21.2% | 21.3% | 19.4% | 21.5% | 21.0% | 15.6% |
| Italy | IT | 49.7 | 46.3 | 34.8% | 35.7% | 34.0% | 29.9% | 29.0% | 27.6% | 24.3% | 33.9% | 26.9% | 29.0% | 26.1% | 30.0% | 23.8% | 36.0% | 21.6% | 21.0% | 14.3% | 18.2% |
| Japan | JP | 90 | 50 | 18.4% | 19.5% | 15.9% | 14.9% | 14.7% | 12.1% | 15.4% | 5.4% | 7.1% | 7.3% | 7.8% | 9.0% | 7.4% | 5.3% | 8.1% | 6.6% | 6.6% | 7.6% |
| Kenya | KE | 59.7 | 29.2 | 37.9% | |||||||||||||||||
| Malaysia | MY | 79.6 | 28 | 36.2% | 39.6% | 40.4% | 40.1% | 36.9% | 33.4% | 22.7% | 27.9% | 24.2% | 26.5% | 22.4% | 25.0% | 25.8% | 28.3% | 31.3% | 31.3% | 23.0% | |
| Mexico | MX | 14 | 37 | 38.9% | 36.2% | 38.0% | 32.6% | 35.0% | 36.9% | 25.5% | 33.9% | 23.9% | 18.2% | 22.5% | 28.0% | 22.8% | 18.3% | 18.5% | 30.9% | 20.4% | 26.6% |
| Morocco | MA | 45.7 | 40.9 | 34.2% | |||||||||||||||||
| Nigeria | NG | 48 | 30 | 34.0% | 40.6% | 38.7% | 37.7% | 35.7% | 36.2% | 38.5% | 30.1% | 29.3% | 28.8% | 20.5% | |||||||
| Philippines | PH | 87.8 | 35.8 | 43.0% | 43.1% | 48.8% | 39.2% | 48.0% | 42.9% | 37.5% | 46.6% | 39.5% | 39.0% | 40.0% | 37.1% | 38.6% | 34.8% | 47.5% | 50.3% | 39.4% | |
| Singapore | SG | 84.5 | 28 | 36.3% | 31.3% | 49.3% | 33.8% | 32.8% | 30.7% | 33.0% | 29.7% | 29.8% | 25.8% | 22.9% | 23.0% | 27.4% | 23.1% | 29.9% | 27.9% | 20.8% | 23.0% |
| South Africa | ZA | 53 | 13 | 47.2% | 42.0% | 41.0% | 42.5% | 43.4% | 40.1% | 24.2% | 29.0% | 28.2% | 22.7% | 27.3% | 26.0% | 28.2% | 28.1% | 27.4% | 27.9% | 29.3% | 26.5% |
| South Korea | KR | 94 | 62 | 21.7% | 19.6% | 23.5% | 21.1% | 18.3% | 16.5% | 29.9% | |||||||||||
| Spain | ES | 42 | 47.2 | 40.4% | 40.3% | 37.6% | 35.9% | 33.5% | 33.8% | 29.7% | 27.2% | 27.2% | 25.8% | 25.6% | 22.0% | 21.4% | 24.1% | 22.2% | 20.6% | 17.3% | 14.1% |
| Sweden | SE | 51 | 68 | 35.3% | 34.3% | 30.5% | 32.0% | 30.1% | 26.9% | 21.6% | 29.5% | 28.5% | 25.8% | 28.0% | 26.0% | 26.8% | 22.9% | 26.7% | 21.5% | 22.5% | 17.7% |
| Thailand | TH | 79.7 | 37.8 | 43.1% | 41.0% | 36.6% | 38.0% | 34.2% | 33.5% | 19.4% | 42.1% | 31.4% | 37.1% | 27.2% | 38.0% | 35.8% | 39.3% | 45.0% | 37.8% | 39.2% | |
| Turkey | TR | 59.6 | 46.2 | 41.3% | 41.0% | 36.9% | 40.3% | 34.9% | 35.9% | 33.9% | 27.2% | 23.2% | 20.5% | 25.7% | 25.0% | 30.0% | 31.0% | 25.0% | 28.7% | 17.2% | 20.4% |
| United Arab Emirates | AE | 62.9 | 39 | 26.1% | 22.9% | 27.1% | 27.5% | 26.3% | 22.7% | 24.2% | |||||||||||
| United Kingdom | GB | 45 | 62.6 | 36.3% | 33.5% | 32.5% | 32.3% | 33.5% | 29.3% | 25.6% | 22.5% | 18.7% | 21.0% | 22.2% | 20.0% | 19.0% | 20.2% | 23.1% | 20.7% | 19.3% | 17.6% |
| United States | US | 12 | 55 | 34.0% | 34.8% | 30.8% | 33.3% | 32.3% | 28.3% | 31.1% | 21.2% | 22.7% | 23.2% | 21.1% | 22.0% | 20.3% | 16.9% | 15.0% | 20.3% | 23.3% | 19.8% |
| Vietnam | VN | 84.8 | 44 | 37.4% | 33.4% | 33.5% | 33.3% | 38.9% | 32.9% | 36.9% | |||||||||||
We’ve seen an annual rise in the percentage of women in every role that makes up the senior management team. In Canada, 42.2% hold Chief Financial Officer (CFO) roles, 39.3% hold Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) roles, 28.6% hold Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) roles, 21.8% hold Chief Operations Officer (COO) roles, 20.4% hold Chief Information Officer (CIO) roles, and 19.4% of women hold Chief Executive Officer (CEO) roles.
Globally, CHRO roles take up the largest amount with 47.6%, followed by CFO roles at 44.6% of and CMO roles at 33.3%. Disappointingly, the global percentage of businesses with women CEOs has only risen 2.6pp since 2024 to 21.7%, lower than the 28.4% figure reached in 2023.
Across these roles, women need a supportive working environment that celebrates their achievements—personally and professionally—and empowers them throughout their career journeys. When organizations provide clear pathways for women, including mentoring and networking opportunities, women not only achieve leadership positions—they stay there and bring others with them.
Women who have already made it into top leadership teams play a key role in driving momentum toward parity. They help shift corporate culture and can provide encouragement and support to the next generation of female leaders. But the pressure to accelerate diversity isn’t just coming from women leaders themselves, external partners are calling for action and businesses increasingly understand the broad array of benefits more balanced leadership teams can bring.
Leaders of small- and medium-sized businesses identify significant benefits to action taken on gender diversity. They see their equality strategies and goals as having positive impacts across a whole range of business performance areas, from commercial factors such as better decision making, innovation and financial performance, through to vital cultural benefits. This is good for individual employees, the companies they work for, and also the wider economy.
The most frequently cited impact of gender equality strategies, selected by one in three business leaders (31.1%), is that the strategy at their company has helped create a culture where employees all feel they are treated equally. Canadian business leaders shared they’re aiming to achieve all employees being paid the same compensation for their role—regardless of gender—within 3 years (a majority at 44.4%). They also said the biggest impact on gender equality strategies has been female senior leaders as visible role models (25.7%). It’s clear that action on gender is a core component of creating an environment in which people can grow and do great work, but business leaders also identify significant impacts on the wider performance of their business.
Positively, nearly a quarter of global business leaders (23.1%) say equality strategies have made their business more innovative. Innovation is a key priority for businesses’ plans for growth. According to recent Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) research, 61.5% of businesses globally are expecting to increase investment in research and development over the next 12 months. With a strong, diverse senior team in place, businesses will be well placed to make the most of their investment.
Linking diversity to performance outcomes will help businesses to understand why it’s vital they act on this issue, and once identified, will be a powerful driver for women in senior management. Having more women senior leaders as role models contributes to an inclusive working environment where everyone can feel empowered to grow and succeed in their careers.
There are a diverse range of opinions on the benefits of gender diversity, but one thing is clear: gender balanced teams enhance culture, in turn boosting business performance and so action on diversity should be considered a business-critical priority. Starve a business of women in senior roles and it will likely be starving itself of the opportunity to grow and outperform.
Small- and medium-sized Canadian businesses face significant pressure from external sources that are key drivers of growth to improve their gender diversity. Existing clients (26.7%), potential new investors (25.2%), and existing investors (24.8%) made up the largest sources for requesting to see the gender balance of their senior management team or evidence of a commitment program to increase gender diversity. This further shows us how important it is businesses address the imbalance of their senior leadership teams if they want to grow. 70.9% of Canadian businesses shared the gender balance of their senior teams is publicly available, while 29.1% said it wasn’t.
Recent Grant Thornton IBR research into the long-term international business ambitions of small- and medium-sized businesses showed of those that plan to grow their business but maintain control, almost one in three (29.4%) plan to do so through seeking strategic investment, M&A, or via a joint venture.
And these pressures are powerful drivers of change. More than half (56.3%) of businesses who have faced this type of pressure say that the percentage of women in their senior management has risen. If investors and clients won’t work with businesses who do not demonstrate a clear commitment to gender diversity, this presents a clear risk to the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses. Therefore, it’s imperative to act.
Given that small- and medium-sized businesses are often involved in multiple different supply chains, they are well placed to influence change at other businesses. If businesses made it a priority to ensure their suppliers, partners, and clients are committed to gender diversity, this would have a significant impact on women in the workplace around the world.
The Women in Business research highlights the broad array of external pressures prompting businesses to improve the gender balance of their teams, and the important role it could play in improving capacity for growth. Consequently, or otherwise, businesses are also putting pressure on themselves to improve. Globally, just 0.2% of businesses say they don’t have a gender equality strategy in place for at least one fundamental business process.
Implementing the right strategies effectively—and with measurable goals—is key to accelerating action and achieving real progress. Businesses should focus on parity, but to ensure everyone is bought in to achieving that goal, they need to articulate the ‘why’ behind their strategies—whether that’s improving workplace culture, ensuring better decision-making or boosting profits.
Overall, employee pay is the most frequently cited element for Canadian businesses to set both a gender equality strategy and a goal for (31.6%) followed by employee bonuses (30.6%), and promotions (26.7%). Globally, 39.3% of small- and medium-sized businesses have a gender equality strategy on employee pay while 40.3% have a goal on equal pay in place.
Pay is the area where pressure has most clearly been applied from governments and regulators. For example, Canada’s Pay Equity Act was passed in 2018 and came into effect in 2021.[vi] It aims to ensure equal pay for equal value and requires employers to develop equity plans to close gaps between the pay of men and women doing the same work. It applies to federally regulated employers with 10 or more employees.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2023, more women (23.8%) were employed part-time than men (12.8%). One of the reasons behind this could be that more of women’s time is taken up with unpaid work, including caregiving. Businesses who support women through different stages in their career as well as their life benefit from higher performing teams and creating an inclusive culture.
Many businesses are now taking action on recruitment and selection, promotions and senior leadership. For those Canadian businesses who have set a gender equality goal, 40% said the number of women in senior management roles has increased.
The majority of businesses across the globe, however, (63.9%) have no goal on the percentage of women in senior management. Without a clear goal in this area, businesses could slip backwards and put progress at risk. Last year, we highlighted the need for businesses to measure success on DE&I—the fact that so few have a goal for women in senior management suggests this action still needs to be taken.
Encouragingly, of businesses that have set a goal on the gender split of senior management positions, nearly half (48.5%) are aiming for more than 40% of senior roles to be held by women. And businesses anticipate reaching these goals soon. Canadian businesses with goals for the proportion of women in senior roles say they will hit them in 4 to 5 years. In 2027/28, the percentage of women in senior management at small- and medium-sized businesses globally could increase significantly, which would be a good step in the right direction for women, businesses, and the global economy. The fact remains, however, that only a small number of businesses have a goal of achieving 50% of senior roles held by women—meaning parity is still distant.
It's not enough just to promote women into certain roles, they need appropriate support and advocation through initiatives like mentorship and leadership programs to continue to progress, drive loyalty, and attract more women to climb the ladder.
It’s a cause for concern that some of the fundamental processes for improving gender diversity are among the least popular elements for businesses to set gender equality goals. For Canadian businesses, these include recruitment and selection (25.2%), retention (25.2%), mentoring (21.4%), and networking (17.5%). These goals are particularly effective at driving diversity. Of businesses that set a goal on networking, 61.1% have increased the gender balance of their senior teams. Likewise, more than half of businesses that set a goal on either mentoring (50.7%) or retention (50.7%) increased their gender balance in the last year.
Of the goals these businesses are setting, the most effective at increasing the gender balance of leadership roles are goals on board appointments. 62.2% of businesses setting gender equality goals for board appointments increased the proportion of women in their senior management teams—the largest of any single goal.
Just 26.8% of businesses, however, set a goal in this area, suggesting that those who set goals for board appointments may already be among the most committed to their gender equality strategy. If a goal is set in this area, then it’s clear that diversity in a business is considered a board-level priority, which likely has a trickle-down effect throughout the organization.
Small- and medium-sized businesses must act now to address the gender balance of their teams. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Accelerate Action’ and businesses must do this to avoid missing out on another generation of talent, investment, clients and, ultimately, the opportunity to grow.
As the largest section of the Canadian and global economy, small- and medium-sized businesses must drive diversity. It should be a standing item on a board’s agenda to hold itself and others accountable to increase the percentage of women in senior management roles.
While growth in and of itself is a strong motivation for small- and medium-sized businesses to act, businesses need to ensure they’re clear on ‘why’ they want greater diversity, to focus their plans and strategies in the right areas. By establishing an overarching purpose, they can motivate themselves towards achieving goals and demonstrate to the drivers of growth—external partners, investors, and clients—that they’re focused.
Small- and medium-sized businesses need to take this opportunity to:
1. Set goals to achieve more women attaining leadership roles and a clear strategic plan to help your business get there. Work with women to understand their aspirations and help them create a plan to achieve them.
2. Commit to supporting women at various stages of their careers. Networking and mentoring help ensure that once women reach senior management, they stay there.
3. Connect with others in industries and networks to understand best practices and learn from each other.
We cannot afford to wait until 2051 to reach parity, we must act now to avoid another missed generation of opportunity. Small- and medium-sized businesses are uniquely positioned to transform the way we do business as well as who leads it. That kind of change ripples across all aspects of our lives—politically, environmentally, and culturally. It can be done—let’s get to work!
[i] Women leaders make work better. Here’s the science behind how to promote them
[ii] IWD 2025 campaign theme is 'Accelerate Action' - International Women's Day
[iii] Key Small Business Statistics - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
[v] The economic power of gender equality - European Investment Bank
[vi] Equality and inclusion in federally regulated industries and workplaces - Canada.ca
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