Leadership gains for Wisconsin women, but gaps remain
Women in Wisconsin hold a record share of corporate leadership positions, a recent Wisconsin Policy Forum analysis found. At the same time, parity has yet to be achieved despite decades […]
Black News 
Women in Wisconsin hold a record share of corporate leadership positions, a recent Wisconsin Policy Forum analysis found. At the same time, parity has yet to be achieved despite decades of gradual gains.
At the current pace, it would take many years or even decades for college-educated women in Wisconsin to fill board, middle management, and senior executive roles at levels matching their share of entry-level professional positions. Wisconsin also lags neighboring Midwest states in its share of women in such positions.
The research, presented in partnership with Milwaukee Women, Inc., found that in 2025, women filled 31% of board seats in Wisconsin’s 50 largest publicly traded companies (141 of 459). That is a stark increase from 1992, when women held 5% of such positions.
However, while women have moved gradually into more advanced career roles in Wisconsin and across the nation, they still hold a greater share of lower-level roles compared to senior leadership positions. Additional data show that as of 2023, women in Wisconsin held 32% of senior executive roles and 42% of middle management positions.
Meanwhile, women held 56% of professional-level positions in Wisconsin in 2023, a share that has remained relatively stable since 1996. Professional roles are those that typically require a college degree or certification, though they can in some circumstances be attained through work experience.
Since women comprise more than half of the state and nation’s college-educated professional workforce, this suggests that educational attainment and workforce entry are not primary constraints to greater representation at the highest levels of leadership. Instead, it narrows at each successive level of higher leadership.
A recent comprehensive study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org — Women in the Workplace 2025— identifies a range of structural factors associated with advancement gaps. These include disparities in access to sponsorship by senior colleagues and senior leaders that are in a position to advocate for promotions and career development opportunities, differences in perceptions about the attainability or desirability of senior roles, fewer invitations to participate in high-visibility or stretch assignments, and the impact of caregiving commitments outside of work that require flexibility, among others.
While our findings suggest women hold corporate leadership positions in Wisconsin at higher rates than at any point in the state’s history, growth has been gradual and their presence in senior roles remains well below that seen for entry-level positions. Moving forward, companies may see the persistent gap in women’s representation as an opportunity to broaden their pool of leadership candidates, comply with labor laws, and strengthen board and executive oversight capacity.
This information is provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members as a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org.
