Breaking the Mold: The Quiet Gender Revolution in Promotions

Who gets promoted to leadership roles? For years, the answer seemed obvious: those with the most experience. And historically, that has often meant men. This long-standing pattern has contributed to men being overrepresented in leadership positions today.

But fresh data on promotion suggests that the story could be starting to change.

Something is shifting. Women are being promoted at a higher rate than men and at younger ages. The assumption that leadership pipelines are slow-moving and favor long-term employees no longer holds up. The numbers show a real change happening.

The big question is: why now? And will it continue?

Women Are Moving Up Sooner – And More Often

One thing really stands out in our data*: women are getting promoted more often than men, and the biggest difference is in the 30-39 age group. Here, 3.6 percent of women moved into leadership roles compared to 2.5 percent of men. This is the biggest gap across all age groups, making it a key reason why we are seeing this shift.

This graph shows the promotion rates of men and women at different ages.

This stands out as a clear pattern in the data. Why is it an important finding?

Because getting that first leadership role is the stepping stone to senior positions later on. If this pattern holds, it could potentially reshape gender composition at the top levels in the future.

Who's Doing The Promoting? A Surprising Factor

One of the most interesting findings is who is making these promotion decisions. According to our data, male leaders are promoting more women than female leaders are. Meanwhile, female leaders promote men slightly more often.

This runs counter to the common belief that female leaders naturally champion more women. Instead, leadership influence seems to work differently.

Graph showing how promotion rates differ for men and women, based on whether their manager is male or female.

And there’s more...

Looking at employees aged 30-39, a clear pattern appears. Women with male managers had a 3.8 percent promotion rate, while those with female managers had a 3.1 percent promotion rate.

For men, the trend flipped. Those with female managers were promoted at 3.5 percent, compared to 2.3 percent for those with male managers.

This graph looks at promotion rates for employees aged 30-39, based on whether their manager is a man or a woman.

These numbers suggest that leadership style and company culture may play a bigger role than gender alone when it comes to making promotion decisions.

The Fewer Women, the More Likely They Are to Be Promoted

This one might catch you off guard.

You’d think that industries with more women would also be leading the way in promoting them, right? But the data says the opposite.

Industries where women make up less than 30 percent of the workforce actually have higher female promotion rates than industries with a more balanced gender split.

One possible reason?

Organizations in male-dominated fields might be making a bigger effort to develop and retain female talent. When the talent pool is smaller, they may be more proactive in ensuring that strong candidates get promoted.

However, this is just a hypothesis – not a conclusion we can draw from our data.

And speaking of hypotheses...

Why Is This Happening? A Few Hypotheses

We don’t have all the answers as to why this trend is showing up in the data. We can only make hypotheses based on recent experiences and broader workplace trends.

Are leadership stereotypes changing?

What defines a great leader has never been set in stone. Over time, different qualities become more valued, and organizations may be broadening their perspective on what leadership potential looks like. If leadership stereotypes and expectations are shifting, it could be influencing who gets promoted and when.

Are younger professionals viewing leadership differently?

Some studies suggest that leadership doesn’t hold the same appeal for younger professionals as it did in the past (PCBB, 2024). Whether it’s concerns about work-life balance, job demands, or career priorities, there seems to be more hesitation. If organizations are struggling to fill leadership roles, they might be reconsidering who they promote and how they support them in stepping into those positions.

Parental leave policies may be playing a role

With more organizations introducing equal parental leave for men and women, traditional caregiving roles may be shifting. If fewer women feel they need to choose between career growth and family life, does that open the door for more of them to step into leadership?

These are just hypotheses, not conclusions. Nonetheless, they raise an important question: If this is the start of a lasting shift, how do we keep it going?

Could Employee Engagement Be Driving This Shift?

There’s another factor worth considering here: the organizations in this dataset are actively working with employee engagement.

All the organizations included use Ennova’s ActionPlan module, meaning they go beyond measuring engagement and take concrete steps to improve it. Could this be part of the reason we see these shifts in leadership promotions?

When organizations focus on engagement, they typically also prioritize leadership development, fair opportunities, and structured follow-ups on talent progression, as these factors support a high employee engagement level. This could lead to a more proactive approach in recognizing and promoting leadership potential, regardless of gender.

These organizations may have taken steps to counteract unconscious bias in promotions or have worked deliberately to create more inclusive leadership pipelines. If so, this might not just be a general market trend but a sign of what happens when organizations actively shape their leadership culture.

If that’s the case, then other organizations could see similar progress if they put the same level of focus on engagement. A thought to reflect on as we look at what this means for the future.

Final Thoughts: A Lasting Shift or a Temporary Trend

Are we seeing the start of a long-term transformation, or is this just a temporary shift?

The data from the past year shows a clear change: more young women are stepping into leadership roles, and the 30-39 age group stands out with the largest promotion gap between men and women. If this continues, it could reshape leadership pipelines over time.

At the same time, looking back at the 2022-2023 data, the pattern was not as clear. That means it is too early to say whether this is a lasting shift or the result of short-term factors. One year of data is not enough to confirm a trend, but it does make room for an important discussion:

How do organizations ensure that progress continues?

Leadership development needs to be intentional. Promotions are never just about individual performance. They also depend on how organizations structure opportunities, support leadership growth, and recognize talent.

The numbers show that change is happening. The next step is making sure it is not just a one-time shift but real progress.

*About the data:

The insights in this article are based on leadership promotion data from Ennova’s employee engagement surveys collected in 2023 and 2024.

The dataset includes responses from over 35,000 employees across seven industries, all of whom participated in an Ennova engagement survey and used Ennova’s ActionPlan module.

To ensure the focus remained on actual career progression, the study specifically examined employees who were promoted from individual roles to managerial positions. Broader promotions within the same job category were excluded to maintain a sharp focus on leadership advancement.

Since promotion decisions often involve multiple stakeholders, including a leader’s leader, the dataset reflects overall trends rather than individual decision-making factors. Industry composition also plays a role, with many of the included sectors being traditionally male-dominated, adding an extra layer of context to the findings.

While this is a large and selective sample, it does not represent every industry or company equally. However, the data does provide a strong indication of where leadership promotion trends are heading – and where organizations might focus to build the next generation of leaders.