Only one in ten CTOs is a woman

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 01/07/2026

CTO has emerged as one of the most prominent function-specific C-suite positions as companies integrate AI, digitalisation and data-driven operations into their business models. But women’s representation in CTO positions remains low across industries. Women account for less than one in 10 CTO positions in two-thirds of the industries, according to a new report published by World Economic Forum and called The Global Gender Gap Report.

The report shows that also in industries where women have a comparably strong presence at entry level, there is a significant barrier for women at higher seniority levels.  

In Technology, Information and Media, women’s representation declines relatively modestly (at around 15%) from individual contributors to mid-level management roles, but drops by almost 25% at the transition to top-level management. 

The report says the past decade has seen incremental but modest gains towards parity at the top. Between 2015 and 2025, women’s representation in top management has increased 2.8 percentage points (pp), outpacing gains in the overall workforce (2.0 pp). 

With an overall workforce representation of 41.7%, women today hold 24.6% of C-suite roles and 29.3% of board seats.

“Yet, the progress achieved in recent years is looking increasingly fragile. Since 2022, there has been a loss of momentum, as hiring of women into senior leadership roles has stalled, and even regressed in the case of board appointments.”  

By 2024, more than nine in 10 boards included at least one woman. In particular, substantial progress has been made in women’s appointment into executive board positions, though women still only represent 5.2% of board chairs and serve shorter tenures in CEO and other core C-suite roles than their male peers, the report says. 

“Yet, the progress achieved in recent years is looking increasingly fragile. Since 2022, there has been a loss of momentum, as hiring of women into senior leadership roles has stalled, and even regressed in the case of board appointments.” 

According to data from LinkedIn Economic Graph Research Institute covering 39 economies, women’s representation declines slightly from 29.1% in top-level management roles to 24.6% in executive positions. 

“While there is no standardized C-suite structure, the chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO) remain the most common roles. Among these most common C-suite positions, women represent 19.1% of CEO positions, and around one-quarter of CFO and COO positions.” 

Between 2014 and 2024, the share of board seats held by women nearly doubled, from 15.2% to 29.3%. 

“Over the same period, the executive board positions held by women increased at a slightly faster pace from 4.4% to 10.1%, despite the overall level remaining low. This comparatively low representation of women in executive board seats mirrors, in part, the composition of executive board positions, which are often held by individuals in core C-suite roles such as CEO, CFO and COO, where women’s representation remains relatively low compared to other C-suite positions.” 

“Reversing these trends is becoming more urgent. As organizations enter an era defined by artificial intelligence (AI), economic volatility and demographic change, leadership is being redefined. The disruption of established career models and organizational structures presents an opportunity to significantly broaden the pathways to the top and redesign the conditions for leadership to reflect the realities of modern careers.” 

“Progress in parity at the top has been limited not by a shortage of qualified women but by systems designed for a different era. Access to senior roles remains mediated by informal networks, where sponsorship acts as a critical gatekeeper to advancement.” 

“Women have smaller professional networks and are less likely to be connected to senior leaders, and while they often bring broader, non-linear experience, current systems do not fully value and reintegrate these trajectories.” 

“As a result, investments in women’s education and professional development over the past decade have had limited impact at the top, as they have not shifted access to the experiences, relationships and visible opportunities through which leadership power is allocated.” 

“Addressing these dynamics requires a step change in how leadership systems are designed. By evolving the definition of leadership capabilities, rewiring power pathways, building fair selection systems and redesigning the conditions for leadership, organizations can build talent systems that are both more inclusive and resilient.”