Championing gender equity

Our Gender Equity driver for change

The path to continued progress for gender equity

At PwC, supporting balanced gender representation across our business has long been a focus. But we still have more we want to do. We are laser focused on the representation of women at leadership levels combined with substantive action that drives an inclusive talent culture from day one. This dual approach supports a sustainable pipeline of female talent across our network.

We ask each member firm in our network to explicitly focus on gender diversity. To increase accountability, we have developed several gender-focused KPI’s including women partner admissions, proportionality of promotions, women experienced hires, the representation of women in succession planning and women leading priority accounts. Looking forward, we’re committed to continued progress and support of gender equity.

In 2023...

25%

of our FY23 partner admissions were women

23%

of our partner population globally are women

49%

of our global workforce are women

How we’re taking action

Leadership commitment

Each member firm in the PwC network is focusing on gender equity as a part of its local I&D strategy and action plan, supported by both its Territory Senior Partner and Territory Inclusion Leader. Beyond that commitment, our Global I&D Council views gender equity as a priority area and is looking across five metrics to see that progress continues. We know actions start at the top, and have put the people and processes in place to drive continued support of gender equity across our network.

Leadership representation

To increase representation of women in leadership positions, we are working with member firms to review and strengthen their approach to attracting, developing and progressing women in senior roles and partner admissions. Additionally, at a global level, we apply a gender lens to all network-level succession planning and leadership appointment activity. Finally, to help our people see themselves at all levels of our organisation, we continue to increase the number of visible women role models at senior levels providing venues for them to share their professional and personal experiences.

Attraction and advancement

We are focused on supporting equal levels of female representation throughout our pipeline. To help support this, we are working towards hiring more experienced women, particularly at senior manager and director level grades, and we’re placing a strong focus on promotions. Two of our five gender KPIs focus on experienced recruitment and promotions to help increase accountability. Ultimately, these initiatives will support gender parity across all levels of our organisation and areas of our business.

Data driven approach

As the only dimension of diversity that can be measured globally, we have a unique opportunity to take a business-led approach to addressing gender diversity. We can better understand our realities, challenges and opportunities through real-time and predictive data-powered insights to create change. This is fundamental to achieving and measuring progress, identifying critical interventions and driving leadership accountability.

International Women’s Day 2024

Inclusion Matters

For International Women's Day (IWD) 2024, PwC is sharing the workplace experiences and sentiments of women from around the world through our research-based insights on workplace inclusion. 

In these insights we explore what has changed for women at work compared with last year, and delve deeper into workplace inclusion and its impact specifically on women as we explore what more can be done to propel women's inclusion, empowerment, and advancement in the workplace.
Read the report

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2:17

Video Narrator: We are better together.

Cynthia, Entrepreneur: “Every decision we have to take in the company is taken together. And I think if we don't work collectively, that wouldn't work.”

Video Narrator: We are better when we feel a sense of belonging, fairness and inclusion.

Chaymaa, IT Engineer: “They are always asking about what we think about what’s happening in our company, even if they don’t agree, they listen to us.” 

Video Narrator: Inclusion matters no matter who you are - but especially so for women. 

Sneha, Marketing Agency: “The freedom is there. The organisation is very supportive in terms of new ideas and creative minds.”

Video Narrator: PwC’s Workplace Inclusion Indicator Index finds a statistically significant inclusion gender gap, with women less likely to feel inclusion at work than men. 

Laura, Administrative Professional: “I think my boss in particular, he's very open to different perspectives. So it's nice in that sense. But when it gets to a certain level, that's when it starts to slow down.”

Video Narrator: And the impacts could leave women behind in the workplace, but the findings also highlight a clear inclusion opportunity. Women with higher levels of inclusion are significantly more likely to seek out career progression and development opportunities and to learn and develop new skills

Visual statistics shown on screen: Women with highest inclusion scores are 1.5 times more likely to ask for promotion and 1.7 times more likely to actively seek out opportunities to learn/develop new skills). 

Video Narrator: Something that’s critical during this time of reinvention - where a worker’s skills, not job titles- are the new currency of the labour market

Alisa, Model: “You have to stay active, you have to stay creative and you have to keep moving.”

Twinkle, Photographer: “As of now I can say I have the skills but for the future I don't know exactly because the time is changing frequently.”

Video Narrator: There’s an opportunity for employers too. The Index found women with stronger feelings of workplace inclusion are more likely to recommend their employer as a good place to work and less likely to want to leave. 

Visual statistics shown on screen: Women with highest inclusion scores are 2.2 times more likely to recommend their employer as a good place to work, and 1.2 times less likely to change employers.

Video Narrator: A workplace where women feel they belong, are included in decision-making, and are treated fairly and equitably is a workplace where women thrive.  Inclusion Matters.  Explore the findings at pwc.com/women 

Championing PwC women

We are actively amplifying the voices of our women at PwC, at all levels, because we know it's hard to be what you can’t see. Below you can discover more about our women across the PwC network as they share openly about their lived experiences, both personally and professionally, and how they are achieving their potential at PwC. 

You can also explore solution and solver profiles relating to broader dimensions of diversity on our Solution and Solver profiles page.

Explore our research-based thought leadership insights

UN Women HeForShe Alliance

Over nine years we partnered with UN Women HeForShe working extensively to elevate male allyship and advocacy for gender equality both within and beyond PwC. We graduated from the HeForShe Alliance partnership December 2023, but as former partners, we continue to be ambassadors for the HeForShe solidarity movement. At PwC, we are aware of the critical role that the private sector has in advancing gender equality, and partnering with UN Women HeForShe provided us a platform to act as role models in our industry but also join forces with HeForShe to truly accelerate the pace of change.
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Aoife Flood

Aoife Flood

Senior Manager, Global Inclusion and Diversity, PwC Ireland (Republic of)

Lynn Rossouw

Lynn Rossouw

Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity

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