Women lead in HR, lag in marketing and dominate four service sectors

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2026 shows that women have made noticeable gains in several non‑technical service industries, while their presence remains low in technology‑heavy fields. Across 39 economies, overall female labour‑force participation rose from 39.9% in 2015 to 42.0% in 2025, slipping slightly to 41.8% by June 2026.

Women now form a majority in four key service sectors

In health services, education, consumer services and the combined public‑private sector, women account for more than half of the workforce. Their share ranges between 50% and 60%: health services 59.9%, education 54.2%, consumer services 51.7% and public‑private services 50.6%.

Continued under‑representation in technical industries

By contrast, sectors such as oil‑and‑gas, mining, infrastructure and other technical fields still see women representing roughly a quarter of employees or less – 25.2% in oil‑and‑gas, 23.6% in infrastructure, 25% in chief operating officer (COO) roles, 19.1% as chief executive officers (CEO) and just 8.6% in chief technology officer (CTO) positions.

Senior management and C‑suite still skewed male

Women’s share of senior leadership roles has risen only modestly. In 2015, 26.7% of senior positions were held by women; this grew to 29.4% by 2023 and has plateaued since. Only 19.1% of CEOs are women, while about a quarter of COOs are female. The gap is wider for other C‑suite titles.

HR and people functions ahead of marketing and technology

Roles that involve direct employee interaction and functional leadership see the highest female representation. Chief Human Resources Officers (CHRO) and Chief People Officers (CPO) are held by women in roughly three‑quarters of organisations. About one in five chief information officers (CIO) is a woman, but chief marketing officers (CMO) remain below the 50% mark, and chief technology officers (CTO) are only 8.6% female.

Board representation gains momentum

Corporate boards have become more gender‑balanced. The proportion of women on boards rose from 15.2% in 2014 to 29.3% in 2024 – an increase of 14.1 percentage points. However, women’s share of board chair positions grew modestly from 3.2% to 5.2%.

Female CEOs in the Fortune Global 500

The number of women heading Fortune Global 500 companies more than doubled, from 14 in 2015 to 32 in 2025, lifting their share from 2.8% to 6.4%. Sector‑specific figures show the highest female CEO presence in utilities (17%), followed by telecommunications and media (11%) and retail, energy and construction (9%). Among the top 100 companies, female CEOs increased from three in 2015‑2020 to seven by 2025.