---
title: Women Now Chair Almost a Third of Companies, While $1.18 Billion Has Been Spent Opposing Their Rights
description: Women now chair 30.9% of firms, the ILO finds, as a Commonwealth report tracks $1.18 billion spent opposing women's rights since 2019.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-11-06T08:30:00.045Z
updated: 2026-11-06T08:30:00.056Z
canonical: https://richwoman.co/article/women-now-chair-almost-a-third-of-companies-while-1-18-billion-has-been-spent-opposing-their-rights
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-7433849.webp
categories: Female leadership, Culture & Society
publication: Rich Woman Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Two reports published this week describe the same women from opposite ends. On 3rd November the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that 30.9% of enterprises now have a woman as board chair, up from 13.1% in 2013. A day later, at the Commonwealth Women's Forum in Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth Secretariat launched a report estimating that $1.18 billion was spent across borders between 2019 and 2023 on efforts to oppose women's rights, gender equality and inclusion.

Read side by side, the two documents show women gaining ground at the very top of business while the support that got them there is being cut back, and while a well-funded movement works to reverse the gains.

## Women reached the top faster than the pipeline below them

The ILO report, [*Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success*](https://www.ilo.org/publications/major-publications/women-business-and-management-scaling-success), draws on a 2025 survey of 11,957 enterprises in 99 countries, compared with earlier surveys from 2013 and 2018. The share of enterprises with a woman chief executive rose from 23.4% to 28.2% over that period.

Women still hold only about 30% of managerial positions worldwide. The ILO found that gender balance improved at senior and top management levels between 2013 and 2025, but declined in junior and middle management, which is where most future leaders are trained.

Women now outpace men in higher education: in 2023, 46.4% of women were enrolled in tertiary education, compared with 40.3% of men. The report finds that women remain under-represented in the business functions and sectors that most often lead to senior roles.

## Companies say equality pays, and then do less of it

Nearly seven in ten enterprises surveyed in 2025 said gender equality and diversity initiatives had improved their business outcomes, an increase of 11.1 percentage points since 2018. Among companies that reported higher profits from promoting women into management, 87.4% said the gain was at least 5%. Firms led by women chief executives and board chairs were also more likely to report better results.

The same survey shows companies doing less. Almost three quarters (74.8%) of enterprises have a gender equality and diversity policy, yet the share actually running such initiatives fell from 37.4% in 2018 to 26.5% in 2025. The measures that lost ground include maternity leave and support programmes and equal pay initiatives, which the companies themselves rated among the most effective.

'The priority now is to turn policies and commitments into concrete, measurable progress,' said ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo.

Maria Paz Anzorreguy, Director of the ILO Bureau for Employers' Activities, said: 'At a time when enterprises are competing for skills and talent, leaving women's potential untapped makes little business sense.'

Rich Woman has reported on both gaps: [mothers receive eight times more paid leave than fathers](https://richwoman.co/article/mothers-paid-leave-eight-times-fathers), and [the pay gap reaches 17% at the top](https://richwoman.co/article/equal-pay-day-close-your-pay-gap).

## Where the $1.18 billion figure comes from

The Commonwealth report, [*The Pushback against Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the Commonwealth: Dynamics and Implications*](https://thecommonwealth.org/publications/pushback-against-gender-equality), was commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat and published alongside its *Progress towards Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in the Commonwealth 2026* review. It was launched on the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in St John's from 1st to 4th November.

The $1.18 billion estimate, which the report cites from research by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, covers cross-border spending worldwide. The report also cites a 2025 study by the UN Research Institute for Social Development and UN Women, which found that nearly a quarter of governments reported a rise in coordinated opposition to gender equality.

According to the report, the groups behind this opposition rarely argue against women directly. They argue that everyone should be treated the same, which dismisses women's specific needs, or they appeal to 'family', 'tradition' and 'culture' in ways that protect arrangements that have long disadvantaged women.

## What the pushback changes for women in leadership

The Commonwealth report links this opposition to measurable damage across its member states. It records rising violence, sexism and sexual harassment, in person and online, against women leaders and women parliamentarians in particular. It finds that national bodies set up to support women in leadership are losing funding, and that survivor support services for women facing violence have been defunded.

It also describes renewed pressure on women to carry most of the unpaid care work, which limits how many can stay in paid jobs long enough to reach management. Governments have deprioritised the collection of gender data, which the report blames largely on a lack of political will, and that makes the losses harder to see.

'The report reminds us that progress on gender equality is never guaranteed. It can be won and it can be lost,' said Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Botchwey.

## Childcare and better data appear in both sets of recommendations

The two organisations wrote independently, but their remedies overlap. The ILO calls for stronger leadership pipelines for women, gender metrics and voluntary targets, and action on unequal care responsibilities outside the workplace. The Commonwealth asks governments to invest in childcare, protect women from workplace violence and discrimination, update laws on online abuse, fund girls' secondary education and digital and AI skills, and collect better gender data.

Both reports make the same economic argument. The ILO describes gender equality as a driver of growth for companies, and the Commonwealth warns that economies underperform and governance weakens where women are shut out of leadership.

There is a case that the boardroom figures and the funding figures belong to the same story. If the share of companies running equality programmes keeps falling while opposition money keeps flowing, the women now in top jobs may find fewer women coming up behind them. In the United States this week, voters elected [a record 17 women governors](https://richwoman.co/article/women-governors-2027-record), which shows how quickly representation can move when the pipeline holds.

## Frequently asked questions

**Q: What percentage of CEOs are women?**
The answer depends on which companies are counted. In the International Labour Organization's 2025 survey of 11,957 enterprises across 99 countries, 28.2% had a woman chief executive, up from 23.4% in 2013. Among the largest listed companies the share is lower: women ran 10.4% of Fortune 500 companies in 2024.

**Q: Are female CEOs more successful?**
Research links women's leadership with stronger reported results, although it shows an association rather than proof of cause. In the ILO's 2025 enterprise survey, companies with women chief executives and board chairs were more likely to report better business outcomes, and nearly seven in ten companies said gender equality and diversity initiatives had improved their results.

**Q: What does gender backlash mean?**
Gender backlash describes organised efforts to stop or reverse progress on women's rights and gender equality. It can include funding campaigns against equality laws, cutting budgets for institutions that support women, harassing women in public life, and recasting equality measures as unfair or as threats to family and tradition. A 2025 report by the UN Research Institute for Social Development and UN Women found that nearly a quarter of governments reported a rise in coordinated opposition.