Women occupy less than a third of management and leadership positions in companies

In Portugal, women hold only 30% of managerial positions and 27% of executive positions, with the public sector and listed companies showing faster progress on this issue, according to research from consultancy Informa D&B.

“Only 30% of management positions in Portuguese companies are held by women, and this percentage drops to 27% when we look at senior positions,” said the consultant, reporting data from the 14th edition of the study “Presence of Women in Portuguese Companies”. , “which also shows that since 2017 this situation has changed by one percentage point in each case,” says the document published this Thursday.

The study notes that “the presence of women in companies decreases as job responsibilities increase,” highlighting that “women make up 48% of the active population in Portugal, but in companies the percentage of female employment is 42%.”

Analyzing senior positions, it can be said that “the presence of women is much lower than that of men,” with “in general management positions, 17% are held by women and only 16.4% of board seats are held by women.”

According to Informa D&B, “the presence of women in management positions also decreases with company size,” highlighting that “among large companies, 19% of management positions are held by women, which is 20% on average.” companies, 23% in small companies and 30% in micro companies.”

On the other hand, “in listed companies and in the public business sector, the evolution of women’s representation in leadership positions has been relatively faster” because “they are subject to a law that has established a regime of balanced representation since 2017.”

According to the study, “in listed companies, the presence of women in management positions increased by 15 percentage points, from 12.2% in 2017 to 27.3% in 2023,” and “there were still no women in listed companies in 2023.” ” in leadership positions.”

Across the state’s 279 business sector companies, “82% of management teams were mixed in 2023, up a record 11 percentage points from 2017,” he noted.

Informa D&B also reported that “the general services sector has the highest percentage of women in leadership roles (43%),” followed by retail, lodging and restaurants at 33%, and real estate and business services at 31%. .

“The sectors with the lowest percentage of women in leadership positions are technology, information and communications, energy, environment and construction – just 18%,” he concluded.