Leaders Emphasize Women in Management and Structural Gender Bias in Consultation
Ana Carla Pereira, Director of Equality and Non-Discrimination at DG JUST, led a consultation meeting with social partners to discuss the Roadmap for Women’s Rights’s direction on 27 January 2025.
CEC European Managers took the chance to emphasize the importance of addressing structural barriers to women’s leadership in regard to the highly anticipated Roadmap for Women’s Rights.
Speaking at the consultation, Olga Molina, Director of CEC European Managers, reaffirmed the organisation’s strong support for the Roadmap’s principles but insisted that the issue of women in leadership must be explicitly included in the framework.
The Roadmap must promote and safeguard evidence-based initiatives, anchoring equality as a long-term business and societal priority.
Olga Molina
CEC European Managers Director
The Roadmap is set to be formally adopted a week before International Women’s Day on March 8, aims to serve as a political declaration reinforcing gender equality across Europe.
CEC European Managers raised concerns about the persistent gender bias in career progression, particularly at the first step to management—often called the “broken rung.”
Many women remain stuck at entry or mid-level positions, unable to advance due to informal promotion processes and ingrained biases.
“For real progress, we need targeted interventions,” said Molina, citing structured mentorship programs, standardized promotion criteria, and robust data monitoring as essential measures.
CEC European Managers also stressed the need for political safeguards to ensure that hard-won progress—such as closing gender pay gaps and increasing women’s participation in leadership—is not undone by political shifts.
“Recent developments show that some companies struggle to connect representation and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) training programs with measurable business outcomes,” Molina noted. “Some even view such initiatives as regulatory burdens rather than strategic investments.”
Feedback is due by February 5, and the European Commission will consider stakeholders’ contributions before finalizing the Roadmap.
For CEC European Managers, the message is clear: advancing women’s rights must go beyond broad commitments and include tangible, enforceable strategies—especially in leadership and management.
