While the overall share of women in manufacturing remains static (around 29%), the last two decades have seen a drastic, strategic shift: women are moving out of administrative roles and into formerly male-dominated, high-wage professional and management occupations, growing by 420,000 over the last 20 years (from 1.22 million in 2004 to 1.64 million in 2024).
While general predicted declines in production occupations continue, increased diverse representation show positive results. Higher female labor force participation globally shines positive impact on productivity by size and workforce diversity.
To shed light on the ascent of leaders, Manufacturers Alliance compiled public data along with member interviews to dive into key roles across manufacturing. The strategic move of women into technical and leadership roles is not just a diversity initiative—it's a critical factor boosting productivity and unlocking dynamic problem-solving necessary for the industry's future.
U.S. Manufacturing Management, Business, and Financial Operations Occupations by Gender
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025.
Women in Executive and Strategic Leadership
Women are making their most notable proportional gains at the top of the corporate ladder. Even as overall numbers remain low, women now make up around 29% of the manufacturing C-suite, (when comparing all industries women hold about 33% of C-suite roles).
Pew Research found that manager titles are most equitably held among the genders in the U.S. in 2023, at a ratio of 54% male to 46% female. As we continue, McKinsey research illustrates a drop to 38% of director titles being held by women. Breaking down the latest available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2021, Finance Directors (34.93%), and Environmental, Health, and Safety Directors (16.53%) have seen slight increases for women, but Marketing Directors have seen a huge jump, from 33.31% to now 53.30% in roles held by women.
Moving up the ladder, women make up 34.22% of Vice Presidents across all industries in the U.S. in 2021, up 7% from a decade prior. From 2010 to 2021, the percentage of women in Vice President of Operations roles has risen around 5%, bringing the ratio to 69.25% men, and 30.75% women. For Vice Presidents of Business Development, the growth has also been around 5%, but there’s a wider variation in ratio, with 81.29% of men holding this position, compared to 18.71% of women.
As noted above, we cannot overlook the changes made at one of the highest levels. When breaking it down by specific titles, Grant Thornton found that across all industries, 23% of Chief Operation Officers (COO) globally were women in 2024, up from 6% in 2012. In the same decade Chief Financial Officers (CFO) followed a similar pattern, with 12% of roles being held by women in 2012, rising to 39% in 2024.
Plus, the number of female CEOs for Fortune 500 companies is at an all-time high in 2025. Fifty-five women are leading the nation’s biggest organizations by revenue, crossing the 10% mark for the first time. Outside of just the Fortune 500, in 2021 women made up 31.53% of CEOs, stagnant from 2020, but an increase from 24.49% in 2010.
Global Share of Women in Business Roles (2012 – 2024)
Source: Grant Thornton, Women in Business 2024.
Leadership Skills Rising to the Forefront
As women gain more leadership roles, they’re bringing fresh skills to the forefront. During interviews, women discussed their approaches to business skills in the c-suite, including a wide-range of differences in multitasking, problem-solving approaches, cross-functional influence, the amount of data needed for decision-making, and emotional intelligence (EI).
“A superpower that women have is our ability to dissect problems in a more granular way that allows for more dynamic solutions,” shared Jennifer VanDewater, Vice President, Enterprise Sustainability, Health & Authenticity, Rich Products Corporation.
Relating empathy and authenticity was the second-most important item to CEOs in our 2024 report. EI and relationship building have been listed as some of the most effective and predictive traits for leadership success, and women tend to score higher in EI. Additionally, Fortune 500 leaders often have "curiosity and a learning mindset” that propels them ahead, dictating the importance of consistently bringing to the table more than just hard skills, according to McKinsey research.
When asked about personal success as a leader, Lindsay Dawson, Global Head of Procurement and Digital Solutions at Intralox, highlighted her constant striving to learn more. “We can’t be so anchored in the way we’ve always done things,” she noted. “If you take the time to listen to people, you learn a lot and they feel appreciated, and you start to piece things together across an organization that maybe you wouldn’t have otherwise if you weren’t listening.”
There's also a strong recognition of what she hopes to see the next generation of leaders bring to the table, and she's using her power to coach them on those differentiators. “All of us are in organizations to try to drive change and improvement, and if you don’t have those soft skills to bring people along in your journey, it becomes hard to be successful at the most senior levels,” Dawson said
