In 1965, HBR surveyed 2,000 male and female executives to track perceptions of women in leadership.
Since then, researchers have replicated that study every twenty years to gauge shifting attitudes toward women in top posts. In this latest installment, researchers have found some troubling backsliding: Men and women now diverge sharply on whether women are judged more harshly, held to higher standards, and advance through genuinely meritocratic systems.
The findings point not to overt hostility but to “underground bias”: informal sponsorship, subjective performance criteria, and unequal access to P&L roles. Organizations possess the tools to fix these gaps—but have not yet summoned the will.
