While each industry has different starting points, unique challenges, and specific cultural traits, the Glass Ceiling Index indicates how well a sector uses its diversity pipeline potential.
In 2025, the Tech Industry emerged as the top performer in gender equity, with the lowest GCI of 1.2, indicating more inclusive advancement practices for women. Pharma / Med-tech followed with a GCI of 1.4, showing fewer structural barriers. ICT & Media, new to the index, entered with a promising 1.9, outperforming established sectors like Banking and Consulting. In contrast, Insurance’s GCI of 3.4 and Healthcare’s GCI of 4.8 highlight ongoing inequality, particularly in fields where women are often well represented at entry levels but struggle to advance.
It is worth noting that the GCI for the full sample remained unchanged at 2.1 between 2024 and 2025, indicating no overall improvement in gender equity.
There are differences between industries when it comes to how they are using their female pipeline. Some industries focus more on hiring women for management positions and others are promoting more equitably. Focusing on management hires are Banking, Consulting and the Public Sector. The industries promoting especially equitably are Pharma/med-tech, the Service Sector and the Tech industry.
The Glass Ceiling Index (GCI) provides insight into gender equality (here: across industries), especially regarding leadership and career advancement for women. A low GCI signals a more inclusive workplace, where women face fewer obstacles to promotion, encounter less gender discrimination, and are better represented in senior roles. Conversely, a high GCI indicates a strong glass ceiling effect: unequal career growth and underrepresentation in leadership. The higher the index, the thicker the Glass Ceiling and the more pronounced the overrepresentation of men. Ideally, the gender distribution will be the same at all management levels as it is in the overall workforce. In this case, the GCI would be 1. While each industry faces its own challenges, the GCI highlights which sectors are having better representation of women in management and which ones are falling behind.