Key findings:
- Gen Z women are advancing in their careers while Millennials are more likely than other generations to have faced setbacks over the last year.
- Flexibility and work-life balance keep women in their jobs, especially for women with children under 18; flexibility is key to improving work-life balance.
- Women are nervous that taking advantage of flexible work arrangements will prevent them from achieving their goals, particularly women who are ambitious in their careers and women with children.
- Younger women and women of color are most likely to say that an emphasis on diversity and inclusion has helped them in their careers.
- The push for diversity and inclusion initiatives has slowed since 2020; women are less likely to say their organization has more initiatives geared toward women and less likely to say their organization has gotten more diverse than they were five years ago.
- Job hunting is difficult right now and a lack of remote/hybrid opportunities is impacting women more than men.
Women are generally feeling ambitious and satisfied with their career growth
One-quarter (23%) of women say their career has advanced in the past 12 months, while 14% have faced setbacks. Gen Z women are most likely to have advanced in their careers (39% vs. 29% of Millennials, 23% of Gen X, and 7% of Boomers) while Millennials are more likely to have faced setbacks (19% vs. 13% of Gen Z, 15% of Gen X and 8% of Boomers). Three-quarters (75%) of employed women are satisfied with the amount of career growth available at their jobs. Among women with full- or part-time jobs, 87% say they’re ambitious in their careers; half (48%) say they are very ambitious. Ambitious women report being more satisfied with their jobs (86% vs. 77%).
Four in ten (41%) employed women say their salary is higher today than it was a year ago. White women (43%) are more likely than Black (39%) or Hispanic (36%) women to have seen salary growth over the last year. One in ten (12%) employed women have tried using new published salary ranges to negotiate pay increases, and another 24% would consider trying this tactic.
Flexibility and work-life balance are critical to keeping women in their jobs
While the top reason women stay in their jobs is enjoyment of the work (51%), one-third cite work-life balance (34%) and one-quarter cite flexible work arrangements (27%). Women are more likely than men to be staying for flexibility (27% vs. 23%) and less likely to be staying because the pay is good (20% vs. 27%). Women with children under 18 are more likely to be staying for the work-life balance (37% vs. 33% of those with no children). Other reasons women are staying in their jobs include:
- It’s overall working for them right now (37%)
- Fear of difficulty finding a new job (23%)
- Health insurance (22%)
Among women who quit their jobs or considered quitting over the past year, 40% said it was for better work/life balance. Women who have considered quitting also cite:
- Stress (49%)
- Looking for a higher salary (46%)
- Career advancement (33%)
- Flexibility (27%)
Half (49%) of women say their mental health suffers to the point of feeling burned out because of their jobs all or some of the time. Women are more likely to feel this way than men (43%).
Flexibility improves work-life balance for women; among those who say their work-life balance has improved in the past year, 53% say it was due to more flexible work schedules. Other reasons for improved work-life balance include decreased workloads (22%), changing to a less demanding role (19%), fewer personal and family commitments (17%), and more remote work opportunities (14%).
Among women who say their work-life balance is worse compared to last year, most say it was due to increased workload (53%), more personal or family commitments (35%), or less flexibility (32%). One-third (35%) of women who have worse work-life balance blame personal and family commitments, compared with one-quarter (27%) of men.
Four in ten (40%) women with full- or part-time jobs are concerned that taking advantage of flexible work arrangements may prevent them from achieving their career goals. Women who say they are ambitious are more concerned about taking advantage of flexible work arrangements (42% vs. 27%), and women with children under 18 (44%) are more concerned than women without children (38%).
Diversity and inclusion helps women more than it hurts, particularly younger women
Three in ten (29%) women say that a growing emphasis on diversity has helped their career, while only 6% say it has hurt their career, and 62% say it has no impact. Gen Z women are most likely to say an emphasis on diversity has helped their career (45%, vs. 34% of Millennials, 21% of Gen X, and 18% of Boomers). White women are less likely to say diversity initiatives have helped their careers (21%) compared with Black (38%), Hispanic (39%), and Asian (41%) women. Ambitious women are also more likely to say that diversity initiatives have helped them (30% vs. 18%).
Diversity and inclusion pushes have slowed down since 2020. In 2020, 24% of women with a full- or part-time job said their organization offered more opportunities targeted to women as it did three years ago, and 35% said their organization had gotten more diverse in the past three years. By 2025, these numbers have dropped to 17% and 28%, respectively.
The buzz around “masculine energy” in the workplace isn’t impacting most women; 54% have no opinion about “masculine energy”, while 12% say their workplace has too much masculine energy, 10% say not enough, and 20% say it’s the right amount. Women who have considered quitting their jobs are more likely to say their workplace has too much masculine energy compared with those who haven’t considered quitting (22% vs. 9%).
Finding a flexible job is a top struggle for women right now
Looking for a job is very difficult right now; 90% of women who are looking for work say it is difficult (50% “very difficult”; 40% “somewhat difficult”). The main reasons women are having difficulty finding work were employers not calling back (49%) and inability to find remote/hybrid job opportunities (46%). Women are much more likely than men to cite difficulty finding remote/hybrid opportunities (46% vs. 27%). Other reasons for difficulty finding a job include:
- Don’t know their value (17%)
- Skills don’t match what employers are looking for (31%)
- Pay is too low (27%)
- Not enough jobs in field (26%)
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
