Women gain ground in boardrooms, senior roles: Govt report

New Delhi: Women are gaining ground in senior leadership roles, with their share rising in both corporate boards and management positions, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

Women held a 29.1% share in board of directors in 2025, up from 26% in 2018. During this period, men's share declined to 70.9% from 74%.

A similar shift is visible in senior management, where women's representation increased to 17.1% in 2025 from 13.9% in 2018. In contrast, the share of men declined to 82.9% from 86.1%, according to the 'Women and Men in India 2025' report by the statistics and programme implementation ministry.


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Senior management positions include chief executive officer, chief financial officer, company secretary, managing director, manager and whole-time director.

"There has been a 73.80% increase in men engaged in managerial positions between 2017 and 2025, whereas there has been a 102.54% increase in women engaged in managerial positions during the same time period," the report said.

Entrepreneurship trend reflects a sharper growth in representation of women. Startups with at least one woman director surged to 19,351 in 2025 from 4,164 in 2018.

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Maharashtra led with 3,311 startups in 2025, followed by Uttar Pradesh (2,069), Karnataka (1,804) and Delhi (1,608).

Women's participation in investment increased slightly to 24.7% in 2025-26 (till October 2025) from 24.3% in 2024-25, while men's share declined marginally to 75.3% from 75.7%.

Goa recorded the highest share of female investors at 33%, followed by Mizoram (32.4%), Chandigarh (32.2%), Sikkim (30.9%) and Delhi (30.8%).

Additionally, around 18.7 million women-run informal micro enterprises employed 22.8 million people, as of December 2025.

Despite these gains, women remain underrepresented in several sectors. They account for 14.3% of judicial positions (118 out of 1,122), and only 3.03% of the 33 judges in the Supreme Court.

The defence sector, including the army and navy, also saw an increase in the number of women serving between 2020 and 2025. Women account for 8.3% of the total defence personnel, with the highest share in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (15.4%), followed by the Indian Air Force (12.9%).