As a C-suite executive, you must have observed a radical change in the boardroom within the last ten years. Women are increasingly doing C-suite functions and influencing the future of the organization.
Being a professional services executive search firm, we've witnessed that only 29% of women hold C-suite positions & this number hasn't budged since 2024.
Current Scenario (Up till February 2026)
As mentioned above, the number of women sitting on boards has risen to 29%.
However, here is the interesting part: although these figures are an improvement, the growth rate is no longer increasing. Women now lead 11% of Fortune 500 companies, with 54 women CEOs projected for Q1 2026.
However, only 24% hold CEO pipeline roles like COO or president positions. This plateau isn't just a statistical curiosity; it's a warning sign that should concern every forward-thinking organization.
At The Taplow Group, through our executive search finance services, we've helped place numerous women in CFO and senior financial roles, witnessing firsthand their transformational impact.
The Transformation in Leadership Styles
Women in C-suite positions bring different approaches that prove remarkably effective in today's complex business environment.
You've probably noticed it yourself:
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Decision-making is going to be more collaborative than top-down requirements.
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Sustainability in business practices is shifting from being a nice-to-have to a strategic necessity.
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The stakeholder collaboration is turning into the key to efficient operations.
It is also shown that diverse companies with various leadership teams are performing better financially than others. This is not a question of being politically correct, but of doing business.
Review the statistics, a company that has women in senior positions has better risk management and more creative problem-solving methods.
Challenges That Still Persist
Although it is improving, structural obstacles are still dragging progress. Females are still largely overrepresented in positions of the C-suite, which hardly results in a CEO.
Pipeline challenges are real. Only a handful of CEO appointments go to women, suggesting persistent bias in final selection processes. There's also the flexibility challenge, with many companies scaling back remote and hybrid work options; you're potentially losing talented women who need these arrangements.
Effective contingent workforce management strategies that include flexible arrangements aren't just nice-to-have policies; they're essential for retaining and advancing your best female talent.
The Women Leaders Reshaping Your Industry
When you consider businesses where the number of women has increased since 2021, they are not only discussing diversity, but re-inventing promotional processes, sponsorship, and decision-making processes.
The female leaders of your industry are not waiting to be granted approval. They're demonstrating leadership principles that are transforming organizational culture:
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Empowerment coupled with accountability
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Empathy paired with decisiveness
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An unwillingness to accept "that's how we've always done it" as an answer.
At The Taplow Group, we offer executive search finance services & have placed executives across almost every sector. We've observed that successful women leaders share something crucial:
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They had advocates who didn't just mentor them
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They actively sponsored them
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Opened doors and pushed them forward when they hesitated
Why Does This Matter to Your Bottom Line?
You might be wondering if this really impacts your organization's performance. In response, the answer would be yes.
Firms that have a multicultural team of leaders always outdo their peers. But here's what most miss: it's not just about having women in the room, it's about creating conditions where they can lead authentically and effectively.
At The Taplow Group, our executive search consultants can find brilliant candidates. But:
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If your organization doesn't have robust sponsorship programs,
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If your managers aren't actively advocating for high-potential women
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If your promotion processes aren't transparent and bias-free
Those brilliant hires will leave.
Sixty percent of senior-level women say they experience burnout, and the gap in ambition that we are experiencing is the first of its kind, since women simply do not want to be in leadership. It is because they are making decisions around the trade-offs and deciding they are not worth it.
Measuring What Matters
It is impossible to measure what lacks measurements. How do you measure leadership effectiveness in your organization? Are you not only counting the number of representations, but also the quality of the opportunities that women get?
Consider these questions for your organization:
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Are women getting stretch assignments that prepare them for the C-suite?
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Are your promotion and compensation processes truly free from bias?
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Do women have equal access to informal networks where real decisions get made?
The most successful organizations we partner with approach this systematically. They treat stakeholder collaboration as essential, ensuring HR, department heads, and senior leadership align on advancing women.
The 2026 Imperative
There is no use in securing any new 2025 workshops that taught us that there was no guarantee of progress. Corporations that lost their way encountered stagnation or loss of gains. But 2026 can be different for your organization. Here's what we're seeing work:
Get Specific About Your Pipeline
Don't just count heads, understand where women are stuck and why. Are they clustered in staff roles rather than line positions with P&L responsibility? That matters because CEO roles typically require operational experience.
Invest in Sponsorship, not Just Mentorship.
Your high-potential women require leaders who will incur political capital in their interest, not merely give them advice over a coffee.
Make Remote and Flexible Work Permanent
The 75% of women who rank this as their most valued benefit aren't asking for special treatment; they're asking for what works.
Hold Leaders Accountable
When promotion decisions are made informally, progress slows. When they're governed deliberately, with clear criteria and oversight, things change.
Itās Time to Move
At The Taplow Group, we don't just fill C-suite positions; we help global organizations build leadership teams that reflect the talent available in the market and the clients they serve.
We've spent decades placing executives who transform organizations, and we can tell you that the companies winning the war for talent in 2026 are the ones that understand gender diversity isn't a nice-to-have. It's a strategic imperative.
The question isn't whether you can afford to prioritize women's advancement. It's whether you can afford not to. Your competitors are already having this conversation. Your future leaders, men and women alike, are watching how you respond.
And the women who could transform your organization are deciding right now whether you're the kind of company worth joining.