We’ve all heard it—firms proudly boasting about their commitment to gender diversity, showing off the handful of women they’ve placed in senior positions. “Here, we’ve done it! We value diversity!” – but is that really the case? Is hiring a few more women in the top leadership positions than your competitor a true marker of a company’s commitment to gender equality? Does this checkbox achievement trickle down to meaningful change throughout the organization, or is it just an example of tokenism, a symbolic gesture to satisfy the public eye? In their recent study into gender diversity in senior management, Priyanka Dwivedi and Lionel Paolella (2024) shed light on a troubling paradox. As companies rush to increase the number of women at the top to appear progressive, they may inadvertently be harming the very people they’re supposed to uplift—junior women entering the workforce.
The Reality of Diversity at the Top
In industries dominated by men, the pressure to put women in leadership roles is immense. Given the historical underrepresentation of women in leadership, gender diversity at the top is frequently tracked and commented on, since the senior women provide a visible signal of the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Organisations with more women in senior management than their competitors earn external praise. Clients are happy, stakeholders feel reassured, and media scrutiny is lessened. However, this quick fix often leads to unintended consequences. While these firms may appear committed to diversity, the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

In fact, what Dwivedi and Paolella’s study suggests, is that once a firm reaches this relative gender diversity at the top, it feels satisfied with their existing level of diversity and simply stops trying. The attention, time, and resources that should flow towards building internal diversity initiatives are redirected. The firm feels satisfied with itself and the focus on hiring and supporting women at junior levels wanes. It’s as though, after ticking off the gender diversity box, the real work—the hard work—of fostering an inclusive environment for all women, at all levels, simply fades into the background.
When it comes to gauging how diverse one’s company is, people tend to compare the gender representation in the most visible, top roles to other companies within their industry. Sadly, due to women’s underrepresentation in the leadership roles across a number of industries, this type of comparison becomes highly problematic, especially in male-dominated industries. This in turn can lead to an illusory sense of progress and overestimating how well one’s firm performs on diversity-related matters. As a result, organisational decision-makers begin to allocate fewer resources, less time and effort to practices aimed at driving diversity within the workplace.When we combine this with the research findings that showcase that senior women rarely enjoy the same status and power as men, a more complex picture starts to emerge. Furthermore, senior women face paradoxical challenge, where on one hand they are unfairly expected to be the sole drivers of further diversity initiatives (which tend to involve unpaid and low-reward, time-consuming tasks unrelated to their role), while at the same time in order to advance or maintain their position, they feel compelled to distance themselves from their gender if they are to be seen as “one of the boys”.
Given the issues outlined above, just because a firm has a higher proportion of women at the top than its competitors, doesn’t mean it has enough women in senior management to make a real difference. Without a critical mass—a meaningful number of women—those in senior positions are often left powerless, unable to influence or mentor junior women effectively. This leads to a troubling cycle. Firms mistakenly believe they’ve done enough by hiring a few senior women and, as a result, cease to invest in promoting gender diversity. Without consistent effort, they fail to recruit and support women at the entry level, leaving the pipeline to leadership positions narrow and flawed.
Diversity Committees: The Missing Piece
So, what’s the solution? It’s not enough to just hire women at the top and hope everything else falls into place. Dwivedi and Paolella’s research points to the importance of having women in key decision-making roles, particularly on diversity and hiring committees. When women are substantively represented on these committees, they can actively monitor and oversee diversity initiatives, ensuring that gender equality isn’t just a token gesture but a core part of the company’s culture.
The researchers propose that such committees can circumvent some of the challenges mentioned earlier by providing senior, as well as junior, women with opportunities to identify with and champion gender-equality while at the same time engaging in tasks that are officially part of their role and can thus be formally recognised. Furthermore, such committees tend to provide greater authority to women to drive diversity issues within the firm and provide greater psychological safety to raise concerns and offer solutions. Committees form also a great opportunity to both senior and junior women to demonstrate their managerial capabilities and raise their profile as change agents, while providing greater accountability to the company (studies show that when men anticipate being held accountable to women for their decisions, they become more conscious of their own biases). What I would add from my own consulting experience, however, is that it is important to ensure such committees have access to the resources needed, engage male allies and that they are recognised as high value-adding initiatives that support the organisation, rather than just another tick-box exercise.
Moving Beyond the Surface
Diversity cannot be achieved by just meeting quotas or hitting targets. Real diversity requires sustained commitment, continuous attention, and the willingness to challenge deeply ingrained biases. Firms must stop treating gender diversity like a box to be ticked and start seeing it as a systemic issue that needs addressing from the ground up. Does it mean we shouldn’t bother with hiring women to the top leadership positions? Of course not- previous studies have shown that senior women help to reduce gender stereotypes for junior women and improve their productivity, as well as career prospects, while reducing gender pay gap and turnover. For the companies to be able to leverage those benefits, however, senior women are needed to have true decision-making influence and play an active role in influencing recruitment and selection practices across all levels of the organisation.
Achieving true equality isn’t just about getting a few women into the boardroom. It’s about ensuring that every woman, from entry-level to senior management, has the opportunity to succeed. Let’s stop celebrating surface-level diversity and start pushing for real, meaningful change.It’s not about hiring women for the sake of appearances but about giving them real power—ensuring they can shape the decisions that can truly make a difference.
If you are interested in discussion how your company can make a true difference, get in touch at anna.c.jaffery@inpsyconsulting.co.uk
Reference: Dwivedi, P., & Paolella, L. (2024). Tick off the gender diversity box: Examining the cross-level effects of women’s representation in senior management. Academy of Management Journal, 67 (4), 991-1023.