KPMG Women’s Leadership Study

Moving Women Forward in Leadership Roles

KPMG commissioned a study on women and leadership with the objective of identifying the steps needed to move more women into leadership positions. The study was conducted by Ipsos and included a 20 minute online survey of 3,014 women in the U.S. ages 18 to 64 (604 college level and 2410 working women). There is strong indication that the elements that affect a woman’s ability to lead are confidence and connections. Though women want to lead, they are often held back by a lack of confidence. For example, only 49% of respondents personally identify with being confident today.

It is clear that women’s perception of leadership is highly influenced by the encouragement to lead as a child, as well as having a role model and development opportunities in a corporate setting. 

Corporations play a critical role in moving more women into leadership by 1) identifying and developing the high performing women who aspire to lead, 2) providing individual feedback that reinforces and builds confidence and high performance, 3) building empowered and effective networks with the goal of generating opportunities for women’s leadership growth, 4) giving qualified women leadership opportunities and 5) putting in place challenging and inspirational career paths for women.

Read further about the overall study and the detailed findings here.