Women in the Workplace
Access research, stories, and advice that reflect the opportunities and challenges women experience at work.
Reports
Women in the Workplace
The Women in the Workplace report from Lean In and McKinsey: the largest study on women in corporate America. See the data on promotion, pay, and bias.
Tips
How to Build Leadership Skills
Learn research-backed strategies to build leadership skills, increase your visibility at work, and get recognized for the contributions you're already making.
Findings
What Is the Broken Rung?
Broken rung: the #1 barrier to women's advancement. Learn why women fall behind at the first step to manager—and what organizations can do to close the gap.
Tips
How to Find a Mentor at Work—and Why You Need a Sponsor More
Learn how to find a mentor at work—and why you need a sponsor even more. Research-backed strategies to build the relationships that drive promotions.
Reports
Women in the Workplace: Asian Women
Asian women face distinct workplace barriers—model minority stereotypes, microaggressions, and advancement gaps. See the research and what companies can do.
Tips
How to Negotiate for Raises and Promotions
Women face a double bind when negotiating: ask too little and you're overlooked, ask too much and you're penalized. Get strategies that work.
Tips
How to Raise Girls to Be Confident and Empowered
Research-backed tips for raising girls to be confident, curious, and empowered—from encouraging healthy risk-taking to teaching girls the value of failure.
Tips
What Is Likeability Bias? Why Successful Women Face This Hurdle at Work
New research shows women who come across as intellectually capable are treated with more hostility than men with the same abilities. Here's how to counter it.
Op-Ed
Good News for Women at Work: 3 Reasons to Feel Hopeful Right Now
Nearly all 369,000 new US jobs created in 18 months went to women, and other trends offer real reasons for optimism. Here's what the latest data reveal.
Tips
Asking for a Promotion in Your Performance Review: How to Prepare
Research shows what actually helps women advance — and it isn't working harder. Here's a week-by-week game plan for a performance review or promotion ask.
Tips
How to Get a Job in 2026: What Every New Graduate Needs to Know
The class of 2026 is entering a job market reshaped by AI. Here are the new rules for standing out on LinkedIn, in your resume, and during interviews.
Tips
The Surprising Benefit of Using All Your PTO
Taking your PTO can boost year-end performance by 8%. Here's how to prepare so time off actually helps your career — plus a checklist for a smooth vacation.
Tips
How to Deal With a Micromanager Without Hurting Your Career
A micromanaging boss can bottleneck reviews and make you feel like your expertise isn't trusted. Here's how to manage the dynamic without hurting your career.
Tips
The Hidden Rules of Work Every Young Woman Should Know Before Starting Her Career
In school the rules are clear, but at work they aren't — and ambiguity favors men. Here are the hidden rules young women need before starting a career.
Tips
How Working Parents Can Lighten the Mental Load
Sharing the load at home but still feeling stretched thin? Here's how working parents can shrink the mental load — and see their busy life differently.
Findings
Young Women Aren’t Opting Out. They’re Opting for Better.
92% of women under 30 want to be promoted — more than men. Young women are the most ambitious group Lean In has ever studied. Here's what companies must do.
Tips
How to Respond When Someone Questions Your Competence at Work
Women's competence is underestimated at work — especially in male-dominated fields. Learn how to push back when your judgment is second-guessed.
Op-Ed
How the Manosphere Is Working Against its Own Cause
The manosphere pushes retrograde ideas about masculinity, but research shows this kind of backlash to gender progress ultimately hurts men most.
Op-Ed
The Hidden Barriers AANHPI Women Face at Work
AANHPI women have the lowest VP-level promotion rates of any group of women. Sue Ann Hong-Whitaker explains what's driving it and how to change it.
Op-Ed
The Pay Gap That Too Few People Are Talking About
AANHPI women earn 83 cents for every dollar paid to white men — a gap masked by high earners. Meet the leader working to close it, community by community.
Tips
How to Use AI Responsibly When Hiring
AI hiring tools can reinforce bias and filter out strong candidates. Here's how managers can screen resumes more responsibly and hire more fairly.
Findings
The Real Risk with AI? Not Using It.
The gender gap in AI adoption is real. Here's how women can make sure they're not left behind as AI reshapes work, hiring, and career opportunities.
Tips
What to Do if Your Partner's Job Always Comes First
Earning less doesn't mean your career takes a back seat. Learn how to reset a household dynamic that's leaving you stretched thin at home and at work.
Tips
How to Accelerate Your Career
Research-backed strategies to help women advance faster at work. Build visibility, earn sponsorship, and take the steps that lead to promotion.
Guides
Accelerating Your Career
Learn how to accelerate your career with proven strategies to get promoted faster, build visibility, and reach the next level at work.
Guides
Asking for a Raise
Learn how to ask for a raise with proven strategies to build your case, choose the right timing, and negotiate your salary with confidence.
Guides
Building Leadership Skills
Learn how to develop leadership skills with practical steps to build influence, communicate effectively, and become a stronger leader at work.
Tips
4 Tips for Mentors and Mentees
Good mentorship is a two-way street. Get research-backed tips for mentors and mentees to build relationships that actually advance careers.
Tips
How to Get Promoted
Learn how to get promoted at work with research-backed strategies to build your case, increase visibility, and advocate for yourself.
Tips
How to Succeed as a Working Mother
Mothers face real bias at work. Get research-backed steps to stay visible, navigate the motherhood penalty, and keep advancing your career.
Tips
What I Wish I Knew about Leadership Growing Up
Girls are often told they aren't leaders. Learn why that narrative is wrong and how we can help girls see themselves as leaders from a young age.
Guides
Getting a Promotion
Explore Lean In's promotion resources, from a step-by-step action plan to expert tips on visibility, sponsorship, and negotiation.
Findings
The “Gen Z Women Are Opting Out” Story Is Wrong
New Lean In research shows Gen Z women want leadership when companies show they want them. See the data on ambition and what employers must offer.
Findings
How the AI Gender Gap Will Compound the Leadership Gap
New Lean In research finds men use AI at work 22% more than women. Learn why the gap exists, what's at stake, and how women can build AI fluency now.
Tips
Public Speaking Anxiety: Why It's Different for Women, and How to Move Past It
Women face gender bias when speaking in public, from interruptions to harsher judgment. Get research-backed tactics for building presenting confidence.
Tips
How Do I Manage a Performance Review after Maternity Leave?
Managing a performance review after a hard six months with a new baby? Get advice on giving yourself credit and reframing the conversation.
Tips
How to Negotiate Your Salary and Get Paid What You're Worth
Women face more pushback than men when they negotiate. Here are research-backed negotiation strategies to help you get what you're worth.
Op-Ed
Why Women's Leadership Is More Important than Ever in the Age of AI
AI can't replicate communication, empathy, or ethical judgment, the strengths that position women to lead in an AI-powered workplace.
Op-Ed
Q&A: The Importance of Women's Financial Literacy, with Mrs. Dow Jones
Mrs. Dow Jones on negotiating pay, investing rather than just saving, and why financial literacy is real freedom for women in every stage of their careers.
Op-Ed
Q&A: The "Rainbow Ceiling" for LGBTQ+ Workers, with Layla McCay
Layla McCay explains the rainbow ceiling holding back LGBTQ+ workers, the pay gap behind it, and how allies at work can help close it starting today.
Reports
Women in the Workplace: Latinas
Latinas face limited flexibility, strong workplace bias, and barriers to advancement. Learn what the data shows and what companies can do to close the gap.
Findings
Interrupted at work? You're not alone.
Women are twice as likely as men to be interrupted or spoken over at work. See what the research shows and what you can do about it.
Findings
Why ambition and failure go hand in hand
Women fear failure more than men, and they're judged more harshly for it. See what the research shows and how to overcome your fear of failure.
Findings
The hidden challenges younger women face at work
Younger women face ageism, sexual harassment, and promotion barriers at the same rates as older women. See the research and what companies must do.
Findings
What’s the strongest form of gender bias?
Motherhood triggers false assumptions that women are less committed to their careers. See the research on maternal bias and its real impact on working mothers.
Findings
What happens when companies support Black women
Black women are among the most motivated and qualified employees, yet face the worst broken rung of any group. See the data and learn how to be a better ally.
Findings
The workplace doesn’t take young women seriously—now they’re fighting back
Ageism hits young women hardest—they face bias around competence and credibility that men their age don't. See the research and how women are pushing back.
Tips
How to Succeed in Your First Job
Learn how to succeed in your first job—research-backed steps for women to build visibility, earn promotions, and navigate workplace bias from day one.
Findings
The extra step many women take to become CEO
New Lean In research reveals the extra step women take to become CEO that men don't. See the data on the leadership gap and what companies can do.
Findings
The Broken Rung: Lean In Factsheet
The broken rung is the #1 barrier to gender parity in leadership. See the data on why women fall behind at the first promotion and what companies can do.
Findings
Gen Z Women and Leadership: Lean In Factsheet
More Gen Z women would seek leadership if they believed companies wanted them. Get the data on ambition, promotion desire, and what employers must offer.
Findings
My mother couldn't get a credit card. Here’s how far we’ve come.
Change happens slowly and unevenly. Look back at 50 years of women's progress — the wins, the immense challenges, and how far we still have to go.
Findings
What Companies Support Women in the Workplace?
Learn the key signs a company genuinely supports women, from leadership representation to sponsorship programs and flexible work policies.
Findings
“Imagine if they got support, this could be a woman’s world”
New McKinsey data reveals women face a broken rung in India, Nigeria, and Kenya. See what drives the gender gap and what companies can do to close it.
Reports
Women in the Workplace: Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Lesbian and bisexual women face higher rates of workplace bias and microaggressions than straight women. See the data and how companies can do better.
Reports
Women in the Workplace: Black Women
Learn how bias and systemic barriers impact Black women at work, including promotion gaps, workplace discrimination, and what companies must do to drive change.
Reports
Women in the Workplace: Women with Disabilities
Women with disabilities face compounding bias at work—higher rates of burnout, fewer advancement opportunities, and systemic exclusion. See what the data shows.
Reports
The State of Black Women in Corporate America
See the data on the unique barriers Black women face at work, including bias, limited advancement, and workplace discrimination. Read the 2020 report.
Op-Ed
Madam C.E.O., Get Me a Coffee
Women are expected to fetch coffee, plan parties, and mentor colleagues while men get credit for less. Learn how to recognize and fix this workplace bias.