At a glance
- From health care and business to public office and the courts, women have been underrepresented and undervalued.
- Increased representation of women in leadership roles can result in more significant progress in health, more just and inclusive systems, increased prosperity for everyone, and greater progress toward global development goals.
- Leadership that more fully reflects the communities served results in better decision-making and more equitable policies and norms for everyone.
- More women in decision-making roles and at leadership levels would begin to break the cycle of inequitable and gender-biased policies.
- When we remove the barriers for women and girls to thrive—when we unlock the potential of half the world’s population—something transformational happens: We ignite more of the world’s talent, energy, and creativity for progress that benefits everyone.
Our strategy
We work to empower mid-career women to reach the highest leadership positions in health, law, and economics.
We focus on three areas of opportunity, investing in and supporting individual empowerment, organizational change, and societal impact to enable pathways for women’s leadership, power, and influence. This means investing in women, identifying and addressing longstanding barriers and gaps in research about pathways for women to attain leadership roles, and supporting policymaking that enables equitable, sustainable pathways to leadership.
Our work is supported and guided by research to identify the root causes of underrepresentation and attrition and best practices and effective interventions at multiple points along the leadership pathway. This data helps us and our partners better understand what works to advance, retain, and empower women leaders.
Areas of focus
When organizations enable equitable paths to leadership, their example and their strategies allow other organizations and entire sectors to do the same.
When women are visible in positions of leadership, it changes the very nature of what effective leadership looks like—and begins chipping away at deeply rooted stereotypes and biases.
By investing in these areas, we aim to create the conditions for a virtuous cycle of women’s leadership, power, and influence in fields that directly support global health and development goals. When women’s access to leadership roles and decision-making power increases, their lives improve, the communities around them improve, and all of society benefits.
Why focus on women in leadership?
In no country in the world do women have an equal role in setting policies, allocating resources, leading companies, or shaping markets. In many countries, more women are working than ever before, but compared to their male counterparts, they are not earning as much, rising as high, or being afforded an equal voice at work, at home, or in the community. Half the world’s talent is left untapped, and we cannot make progress on gender equality—or any other issues—unless women can achieve their full potential.
From health care and business to public office and the courts, women are underrepresented and undervalued. Yet women’s representation in leadership positions has significant implications for health, justice, and prosperity for everyone.
