Two years on from CBI Wales and the University of South Wales setting out to understand the barriers preventing more women from progressing into leadership, The 2026 Women’s Leadership Benchmark for Wales allows us to ask a more important question: what has changed?
Drawing on 220 responses from people working across different sectors, organisation sizes, career stages, and levels of leadership responsibility, the benchmark shows genuine progress. But it also identifies three important gaps between organisational intent and people's experience.
Flexible working is helping. But are flexible workers being seen?
Flexible working is one of the clearest areas of progress.
In 2024, 53% of respondents believed flexible working enabled more people to take leadership roles. In 2026, that has risen to 65%.
But there is another side to the story. 57% believe flexible working can reduce visibility to managers and senior leaders, while 59% worry about reduced informal learning and 48% about reduced access to important informal networks.
The report identifies this as the Flexibility-Visibility Gap.
The challenge for employers is no longer simply providing flexibility. It is ensuring people working flexibly retain access to the relationships, networks, learning, sponsorship, and opportunities that help careers progress.
Capability isn't the problem
Women continue to demonstrate strong leadership ambition and confidence.
Some 81% of respondents feel capable of making the decisions expected of leaders, while 86% feel capable of influencing others towards shared goals.
Yet only 39% believe promotion pathways are clear, down from 44% in 2024.
This creates a Capability-Progression Gap .
Leadership development and mentoring matter, but they cannot compensate for unclear progression. Employees need to understand what advancement requires, how decisions are made, and how development connects to their next opportunity.
Supporting equality isn't the same as delivering it
Perhaps the most striking finding is the gap between support for gender equality and people's experience of it.
Almost everyone surveyed, 98%, believes women are as effective as men in senior leadership. Yet only 78% believe female leaders are taken as seriously as male leaders.
Similarly, while 79% say their organisation actively supports gender equality, just 46% believe there is accountability for progress.
This is the Values-Delivery Gap .
The test for organisations is whether their commitment to equality is reflected in the decisions that shape careers, including development, sponsorship, promotion, and succession.
Three priorities for employers
The benchmark identifies three practical actions businesses can take now:
- Ensure flexible working protects career opportunity
- Make the route from development to progression visible
- Test whether equality commitments are influencing workplace decisions.
From evidence to action
This research is designed to become a long-term benchmarking tool for Wales. Repeating it every two years will allow CBI Wales and the University of South Wales to track progress and identify where further action is needed.
Over the next 18 months, three thematic reports will also explore the Flexibility-Visibility, Capability-Progression, and Values-Delivery gaps in greater depth.
The challenge now is not simply convincing organisations that women can lead. The evidence suggests that argument has largely been won.
The next step is turning acceptance into opportunity, development into progression, and commitment into measurable change. Contact Katie Spackman, Senior Associate Director, CBI Wales, to find out more and to get involved.
