The hidden challenges younger women face at work

You’ve probably seen the headlines: women still shoulder much more of the housework and childcare than men. They have less free time. Their workforce participation has leveled off, and they remain concentrated in different occupations than men. These are all signs that the movement toward gender equality in the U.S. has, in many ways, stalled.

Our 2024 Women in the Workplace report found similarly slow—even stagnant—progress when it comes to women’s experiences at work. But as one of my report co-authors, Marianne Cooper, and I explain in a recent Harvard Business Review article, we were most concerned to find virtually no improvement across generations. In fact, the experiences of women under 30 appear just as challenging as those of women 50 and older. Younger women continue to face:

• Early career obstacles: Women at the entry level remain far less likely than men to get their first promotion to manager. This has barely improved over time: this year, just 81 women were promoted to manager for every 100 men—up just a hair from 79 women in 2018.
• Sexual harassment: Despite younger women’s much shorter tenures, a third have already experienced some form of sexual harassment over the course of their careers—the same as older women.
• Housework disparities: Younger and older women with partners report doing the same disproportionate amount of housework and childcare.
• Ageism: While unfair treatment based on a person’s age harms older adults, “youngism” is also a significant issue. Almost half of younger women say their age has negatively impacted their careers—more than any other age group—and they are nearly twice as likely as younger men to have received unwanted attention about their age.

Taken together, it’s clear that the workplace is not getting any better for the next generation, and they know it: younger women are twice as likely as older women to say that their gender will make it harder for them to get ahead.

So what can younger women do? To start, it’s crucial that they don’t blame themselves when they run up against obstacles. Gender bias at work is widespread and long-standing, and it is the responsibility of companies—not women themselves—to address it. That’s why, at Lean In, we work directly with companies to build more equitable and inclusive workplaces.

We also offer resources for women that can be especially useful for those early in their careers. Lean In Circles create a space for women across generations to connect, share advice, and support each other: for younger women, learning from their more seasoned colleagues’ experiences can be validating and help them act more strategically. Many Circles now also use our Women at Work Collection, which covers topics relevant for starting out professionally, such as how to negotiate and get recognized for one’s contributions.

Whether you're just at the beginning or further along in your career, I encourage you to take a look at these resources and share them with the younger women in your life. I, for one, know I would have benefited tremendously from having this kind of support and guidance when I was launching my career.