ILO Report Finds Businesses See Equality Benefits—But Implementation Is Falling

Gender equality is often discussed as a question of fairness. A new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) adds a business-management angle: many surveyed enterprises say their gender-equality and diversity initiatives have improved business outcomes, but fewer report putting those initiatives into practice.

The ILO’s Women in Business and Management: Scaling Success, published on 3 November, draws on a 2025 survey of 11,957 enterprises across 99 countries, alongside earlier surveys and other research. Its findings offer a useful prompt for Pakistani employers and women founders: a written commitment is not the same as a workplace where women can join, progress and lead.

What the survey found

In the 2025 survey, 68.5% of participating enterprises reported positive business outcomes associated with gender-equality and diversity initiatives. The ILO says that share was 11.1 percentage points higher than in its 2018 survey. Among enterprises that reported increased profits through initiatives promoting women in management, 87.4% said the gains were at least 5%.

These figures are self-reported and should be read carefully. The ILO’s own survey notes say the results describe participating enterprises; they are not statistically representative estimates of every business worldwide or of Pakistan. The surveys also used different samples in 2018 and 2025. The findings point to a business case that many respondents perceive, but they do not prove that a particular equality measure caused a particular increase in profit.

The gap between policy and practice

The report’s most striking management signal may be the gap between written policies and implementation. In 2025, 74.8% of surveyed enterprises said they had a gender-equality and diversity policy or equivalent. Yet only 26.5% reported implementing initiatives, down from 37.4% in 2018.

That matters because progress at the top can be fragile if the path below it is narrowing. The report says women hold about 30.5% of managerial positions globally. It also finds that gender balance improved in senior and top management between 2013 and 2025, while it declined in junior and middle management. A company may appoint women to visible leadership roles but still lose future leaders if hiring, development and promotion systems do not support progression.

From a promise to a working business practice

The ILO recommends strengthening leadership pipelines, using gender metrics and voluntary targets, widening access to roles and sectors where women remain under-represented, and making equality part of business strategy and accountability. The report also highlights initiatives such as equal-pay measures and maternity support, while pointing to unequal care responsibilities and occupational segregation as barriers that firms cannot ignore.

For a small Pakistani business, this need not begin with a large HR department. A practical first step could be to write clear criteria for hiring and promotion, then review whether women are applying, being retained and reaching decision-making roles. Where a company collects pay or promotion data, it should protect employees’ privacy and compare like-for-like roles rather than rely on a headline ratio alone. Women founders building a team can use the same practices as their firms grow.

Why it matters for Pakistan and Chitral

The ILO report is global, not a Pakistan-specific scorecard. Its relevance locally is as a management question: are businesses making full use of the talent available to them? Employers in tourism, retail, professional services and technology—from larger firms in Pakistan’s cities to smaller operators in Chitral—can examine whether work schedules, leave arrangements, recruitment channels and advancement criteria make it possible for women to stay and progress.

For a Chitral hotel or tour company, for example, a review might begin with who is hired for customer-facing and supervisory roles, what skills are rewarded, and whether promotion criteria are made clear. That is a suggested application of the report’s framework, not a claim that the ILO studied Chitral businesses. The point is to measure actual practice rather than stop at a policy statement.

The report does not promise a fixed financial return from any one measure. It gives business leaders evidence that many enterprises associate gender-equality initiatives with better outcomes—and a warning that commitments can lose value when implementation stalls. For women in business, the next test is whether those commitments change who gets hired, developed, paid fairly and trusted with leadership.

Sources

• International Labour Organization, “Businesses report growing benefits from gender equality,” 3 November 2026
• International Labour Organization, Women in business and management: Scaling success
• International Labour Organization, executive summary of Women in business and management: Scaling success
• ILOSTAT, Women in Business and Management data visualization and survey FAQ