Since their products and messaging are mainly directed at female consumers, it's somewhat surprising that men occupy a majority of high-level management positions in industries like fashion and beauty. But here we are.
With increased awareness and a concerted effort to clear a path for women to lead, we can all move closer to bridging the gender gap and better serving female audiences.
Female consumers, male leaders?
Women control or influence roughly 85% of consumer spending, including the large majority of purchases in beauty, fashion, and media. Despite that, most high-level decision-makers in these industries are still men. Boo.
McKinsey's 2025 Women in the Workplace report found women hold 29% of C-suite roles across industries, unchanged from the year before. And a 2022 survey of the 100 largest beauty companies in Europe found more than 65% of executive committee seats still held by men.
The beauty and fashion industries have higher levels of female representation in management than industries like tech and business services, so they've largely avoided large-scale criticism. But the goal should be absolute, not relative, gender equity, particularly in industries that cater to women shoppers.
After all, decisions made at the top directly affect women's lives, from the ingredients in products to the messages and stories audiences are sold.
Give the people what they want
Consumers have clearly expressed a desire for change. A 2015 Pew Research Center study found that 40% of women said having women in leadership positions "would have at least some positive impact on all women's lives." And having more women in power can genuinely benefit a company's bottom line.
Case in point: a Peterson Institute for International Economics study, published in Harvard Business Review in February 2016, examined nearly 22,000 firms globally and found that going from zero to 30% female leadership share is associated with a 15% increase in profitability for a typical firm. Satisfying consumers' needs is something every business should strive for, and in this case, honoring their desire for more female leadership can improve the business overall. So why not?
To accelerate change in this direction and better meet the needs of today's women, we need more ways to put women in charge of creating the products and messages built for them. But how?
How to reach our goals
At an institutional level, beauty, fashion, and media brands should build hiring practices that prioritize diversity across gender and background, and get creative about supporting young women's professional goals beyond the office through mentorship programs or employee volunteering initiatives. It should be the norm.
And to the young women looking to carve out a space for themselves in these industries: no opportunity is too big or too small to practice establishing yourself as a leader.
You can benefit greatly from seeking a mentoring relationship with another woman in your industry of choice. They can give you valuable insider information about what to expect from the industry culture, and their tips on navigating gender-based obstacles can help you confidently handle similar challenges.
It also helps to practice conversational tactics that help you feel powerful in professional settings. Most women find themselves in at least one situation where someone talks over them, and it can be hard to get a word in. Practice saying, "Just a minute, I'm almost done," and then carry on with your point. If you still can't get in, an interjection like, "I could not agree with you more. However, my point is..." is a courteous way to regain control of the conversation.
Amplify the voices of your female coworkers, too. With effort from brands and individuals alike, we can erode damaging cultural misperceptions of women in leadership and keep drawing attention to where women are underrepresented, especially in industries built around female consumers.
We can't rest on the progress already made. We have an obligation to keep working toward greater female leadership, not least of all in industries aimed squarely at us.
The industries built around us should be led by us, too. Get the Girlboss Daily for more on closing the leadership gap and the women doing it right now.
