While companies have made strides toward gender parity, the work environment itself has not significantly improved for women. For example, women still face microaggressions, and employees concur that their organizations have made less headway in addressing these issues, say senior partner Lareina Yee and colleagues in McKinsey’s tenth-anniversary Women in the Workplace report. The likelihood of women encountering microaggressions remains unchanged from five years ago. By not stemming these behaviors, companies risk losing skilled employees and their valuable contributions.
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Four line graphs show the share of women who report experiencing various types of competence-based microaggressions from 2018 to 2024. In 2018, 43% of women reported experiencing at least one type, peaking at ~63% in 2019, then declining steadily to ~35% over the next 3 years, before rising to ~55% in 2024. The share of women whose judgment was questioned in their area of expertise was 37% in 2018, rose to 39% in 2019, then fell to 23% by 2023, before returning to ~39% in 2024. Those mistaken for someone at a much lower level remained steady at between 18 and 20% over the same period. Finally, 51% reported being interrupted or spoken over more than others in 2018; this decreased to ~23% in 2023, then rose to ~40% in 2024.
Source: Women in the Workplace 2024, McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org
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To read the report, see “Women in the Workplace 2024: The 10th-anniversary report,” September 17, 2024.