“Imagine if they got support, this could be a woman’s world”

When Sangita Marda Agarwal thinks about some of the questions she knows Indian women get asked in job interviews, she bristles. A director at a large travel company based out of Mumbai, Agarwal knows too well the biases that women face—especially when they are early in their careers.

“They will be asked very intrusive questions like, ‘Do you plan to get married in the next few years,’ or if the person applying for the job is already married, ‘Are you planning to have children?’” said Agarwal, who is also the network leader for Lean In Mumbai. “If there is a man candidate up against a woman candidate for a job, companies feel it is better to employ the man because they think they will be able to work longer hours.”

New data from McKinsey about workforce gender representation in India reflects Agarwal’s personal experience. Despite accounting for nearly 50% of students enrolled at universities in India, women hold just 33% of entry-level roles, according to Women in the Workplace India, Nigeria, and Kenya. And at the entry level, women are 2.4 times less likely than men to be promoted to manager.

As a result of this “broken rung” — a phenomenon in the U.S. corporate pipeline as well that we’ve been tracking for a decade — men significantly outnumber women at the manager level. This makes it nearly impossible for companies to support sustained progress at more senior levels. Indeed, a mere 17% of C-suite roles in India are held by women.

The corporate pipelines look slightly different in Kenya and Nigeria, but challenges persist, according to McKinsey’s analysis. In Kenya, women are relatively well represented in entry-level roles, but hold just 27% of C-suite titles. And in Nigeria, women make up nearly half of Nigeria’s labor force, but only 33% of entry-level roles. Despite this initial barrier to entry, women’s representation holds steady at senior levels, with 29% of C-suite roles occupied by women.

Isioma Osakunih, an energy professional who works out of Lagos, shared that in Nigeria, it is really challenging to get an entry-level position due to a skills gap: companies expect you to have knowledge coming out of university that most early career workers do not have.

This problem is even more pronounced for women, particularly those working in more technical fields, she said.

“I always say, ‘I am not a woman who is an engineer. I’m an engineer who is a woman,’” said Osakunih, who also runs a Lean In Network for West Africa. “You cannot section women off to the side.”

Both India and Nigeria struggle with limited opportunities for women entering the workforce. Strengthening university recruitment initiatives as well as offering internships could mitigate some of the barriers women face, according to the report. Also companies with flexible work arrangements and family and personal care policies, such as paid sick days and menstrual leave, had higher women’s representation.

And while companies are rethinking policies and programs to support women in their respective countries, it’s clear that — like in the U.S. — there is work to be done at home as well.

“Some women get zero support,” said Agarwal. “In India, a woman does all the work at work, and then she has to come home and do all the housework as well. Despite that, women are marching ahead, so you can imagine if they got support, this could be a woman’s world.”