In contrast to the overall GIR sample, the Consulting industry has a higher share of women in non-management. With the exception of top management, all management ranks have a higher percentage of women than in the full GIR sample (between 10 and 14 percentage points more). However, the difference between the share of women in non-management and top management is 33 percentage points, a gap that is more pronounced than in the overall GIR sample. The top echelon remains firmly in men’s hands.
In lowest and lower management levels, consulting companies hire more than 50% women, though the share of women in promotions is slightly below 50%. Both contribute to an increase in the share of women in management. Positive trends can also be seen in the progression to middle and top management levels, where the same proportion of women in lowest and lower management is promoted to middle/top management. The Consulting industry seems to do a relatively good job utilizing their female talent pipeline.
These encouraging trends are eclipsed by a significantly low proportion of women hired to middle and top management levels.
For the Consulting industry, a GCI of 2.5 shows that women still face significant hurdles in accessing middle and top management positions. This is due to a disproportionate representation of men at those management levels.
When looking at the employment percentage by gender and management level, the Consulting sector seems to have a clear full-time culture. Furthermore, the deviation across management levels (from non-management to top management) is minimal. Women have a slightly lower average employment percentage than men, showing that even in an industry where part-time is not the norm, women consistently work at lower rates than men.