Explainer
Women Hold Just 12% of Managerial Roles in India, ILO Report Finds
India ranks 32nd of 34 Asia-Pacific economies on women’s share of management, and women earn about 28% less per hour, according to the International Labour Organization.
Women account for only 11–12% of managerial positions in India, placing the country 32nd among 34 Asia-Pacific economies, ahead of only Pakistan and Bangladesh. That is according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report titled Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success, as reported. The managerial figures use 2024 data and cover senior and middle management.
The ILO has tracked this issue for years. Its earlier Asia-Pacific report also found that women are concentrated in lower management ranks and certain business functions. Other studies point the same way: a CFA Institute report found women hold just over 10% of key managerial positions in India.
The pay gap
The report says Indian women employees earn about 28% less per hour than men, the fourth-widest gap among the 23 Asia-Pacific economies it examined. Only Tonga, South Korea and Vanuatu have wider gaps. Among Indian managers, the pay gap is close to zero, so the broader disparity is not uniform across levels.
Why women are missing from the top
Neetha N, professor at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, pointed to gender stereotyping and unequal household responsibilities as two main barriers. Stereotypes can influence who gets promoted, while the unequal burden of care work can interrupt careers or make senior roles harder to take on. Remedies include accessible childcare, better care infrastructure, and clearer routes into management.
The report also points to education and function. In India, 23.1% of female tertiary graduates studied STEM, against 31.4% of male graduates. Women make up 30.5% of managers globally and roughly one in five across Asia-Pacific, with big differences by function:
| Business function | Women’s share of senior management |
| Human resources | 62.5% |
| Finance and administration | 55.4% |
| Research and development | 26.3% |
| Profit-and-loss responsibility | 19.8% |
The functions where women are scarcer, profit-and-loss and R&D, are often the routes to top executive roles.
The business case
Drawing on responses from 11,957 enterprises in 99 countries, the report says 68.5% of businesses saw better outcomes linked to gender-equality and diversity initiatives. The measures cited as most effective were maternity leave and support (74.7%), action on workplace violence and harassment (74.1%) and equal-pay measures (70.1%).
But follow-through is slipping: the share of enterprises reporting such initiatives fell from 37.4% in 2018 to 26.5% in 2025. Companies led by women CEOs were 6.4% more likely to report better outcomes, and those with women board chairs 17.5% more likely. These are associations, not proof that a leader’s gender alone drives performance.
What it means
The findings suggest India’s challenge is less about getting women into work and more about moving them into decision-making roles. Leadership development, mentoring, sponsorship, equal pay and exposure to a wider range of business functions all matter, as do recruitment, promotion and retention practices, flexible working, maternity support and effective action against harassment. Closing the gap will take lasting changes in workplace practice and culture, not only numbers.
Sources: ILO report as reported by Business Standard and Reuters (per your paste); ILO; CFA Institute via YourStory.
