Grant Thornton’s report highlights the challenges women face as they aspire to CEO roles.
Professional services firm Grant Thornton has released its Women in Business 2026 report, which shows that in Ireland, while progress has been made in the area of gender diversity in senior leadership, major challenges still remain for women aiming for CEO titles.
Between July and October of 2025, Grant Thornton conducted interviews with employees in more than 100 Irish businesses.
What was discovered is that while all-male leadership teams have fallen sharply from around 16pc to just under 7pc, women in the dataset were four times more likely to be a CFO (63pc) or HR director (58pc) than a CEO – and 30 times more likely to hold those roles than to become a chair.
Representation of women in senior management roles in Ireland was shown to have risen to 41pc, up almost five points from 2025 and ahead of the global average at just under 33pc, while the rate of Irish businesses with no women in senior management at all is around 7pc.
Commenting on the research, Amanda Ward, the co-head of consulting at Grant Thornton, said: “It’s encouraging to see Ireland not only outpacing global trends but also significantly reducing the number of all-male leadership teams.
“The progress is undeniable. But the data also shows that women continue to be heavily represented in specific leadership roles while underrepresented in CEO or chair positions. The true long-term sign of progress will ultimately be if women are equally able to land the top job.”
Equilibrium
The report also highlighted how gender balance is of key importance to prospective and existing employees. Female representation among a company’s senior ranks was shown to be a major influence on recruitment and talent retention.
One out of every seven participating businesses reported that prospective employees have either asked about the gender balance of the company’s senior management, or for evidence of ongoing commitments to bring about gender equality.
Almost half of the contributing employees felt that there was heightened equal treatment at work due to gender equality strategies being in place.
Ward said, “The research shows that gender diversity is not a box-ticking exercise. Prospective employees are increasingly asking about the gender balance of senior leadership teams and looking for tangible evidence of equality commitments before accepting roles.
“Businesses that embed meaningful gender equality strategies are not only strengthening decision-making at the top but also positioning themselves for long-term success.”
Steve Tennant, a managing partner at Grant Thornton Ireland and EMEA CEO of the Grant Thornton advisors multinational platform, added: “Expectations have moved on – customers, investors and talent increasingly judge firms on the seriousness of their commitment to gender diversity.
“This isn’t optional. Organisations that fail to act will fall behind. While the progress made so far is encouraging, we need to keep the momentum going if we are to finally and decisively break the glass ceiling.”
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