The Consulting industry has a higher share of women in non-management functions than almost any other industry. There are more women than men in non-management positions. The opposite is true as we move up the management hierarchy, with fewer than one in five women in top management positions. There is an overall trend of fewer women at higher management levels.
Women are equally likely to enter lowest and lower management through recruitment and promotion. It is mostly promotions rather than recruitment that brings women into middle or top management. While it is good news that women are moving into management while already employed by the company, recruitment into these positions could be intensified.
The Glass Ceiling Index of 2.2 means that women are disadvantaged in reaching management positions, especially those in the upper levels of the career ladder. Women face higher barriers to reach middle and top management positions than in other industries.
The employment rate is essentially the same for men and women regardless of hierarchy level (men’s employment rate ranges from 95 to 97%; women’s from 91 to 94%). This means that in Consulting, there are considerably fewer differences in the average employment percentages across different management levels. Women have a slightly lower average employment rate than men, showing that even in an industry where part-time work is not the norm, women consistently work at slightly lower rates than men.