FAIR SHARE
Monitor 2025

For the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025, social impact organisations from around the world were invited to participate in data collection. In total, 106 organisations working in various sectors including healthcare, human rights, climate & the environment, children & youth, international cooperation and more, were invited to participate. These organisations were invited to share data on the gender composition of their staff and leadership teams, as well as general information about their internal organisational culture, though an online survey.

When organisations do not respond to our data collection requests, we proactively research the necessary information from their websites and other public platforms. When exact numbers aren’t available, we assume a 70% proportion of women on staff. The researched data is then shared with the respective organisation, giving them an opportunity confirm or amend the data as needed.

When data isn’t confirmed by organisations, we publish the researched findings and differentiate, in our Monitor publication, between organisations who actively participated in data collection through either data submission or data confirmation, and those who did not respond to any of our data inquiries. When we are unable to find sufficient gender data on organisations through research, the organisations are removed from the Monitor analysis and final results publication.

This year, while 8 new international organisations were added since the last Monitor, 15 other organisations had to be removed from the final data analysis for various reasons. These reasons include unavailability of sufficient gender data on public platforms, limited staff capacities due to ongoing crises in the sector (such as the USAID funding freeze, attacks on DEI, and growing anti-rights movements worldwide to name a few), resulting in competing priorities for organisations.

Ultimately, 91 international organisations have been included in the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025, representing an estimated staff size of over 266,000 employees.

To better understand women’s leadership journey in the sector, we looked into 29 organisations with Middle Management in their internal structures. This analysis revealed trends consistent with the previous Monitor: in the sector, women and men progress in opposing directions. While it is worth noting that, on average, in organisations with a middle management structure, women represent the majority at all levels –  57% of staff, 57% of  middle management, and 54% of senior leadership – it is also important to recognise that when contrasted with data on men’s representation, a notable gap persist. Indeed, women’s representation steadily declines as they move up the organisational ladder, while men’s representation increases.

Who leads the social impact sector?

Given the FAIR SHARE Monitor’s focus on women’s leadership, a key part of data collection involves measuring the proportion of women in high decision-making spaces, specifically at the Senior Management and Board levels. This includes tracking the number of women who hold positions such as CEO or Executive Director in Senior Management Teams, and Chair in organisations’ Boards. 

In the Monitor 2025, women make up 56% of all Senior Management teams on average, with most senior management teams (53%) having more than half of their teams made up of women.

However, in a surprising turn of events, the proportion of organisations with women CEOs or Executive Directors fell to 45%, a significant dip from the Monitor 2024 where women-led organisations represented 52% of all monitored organisations, and the lowest since the Monitor 2021.

At the Board level, Monitor 2025 findings remain consistent with previous Monitors, with women making up 49% of monitored Boards on average. And though 51% of all monitored organisations were recorded to have women chairs in their boards, most boards remain dominated by men, with 52% of boards having a majority of men members.

Gender equity across different organisation sizes

But how does the Monitor 2025 FAIR SHARE Index vary when organisations are categorised by size clusters?  

In this Monitor edition, the majority of organisations are medium-sized (40%), with a staff size ranging from 101 and 1000 employees. Small and large organisations make up 27% and 33% of all monitored organisations, respectively. At first glance, it is evident that while each of the cluster has a FAIR SHARE Index well below the average Monitor 2025 Index of 20.31, none achieved a fair representation of women in leadership (index of 15 or lower).

One step forward, two steps back?

Detailed findings reveal that, similar to the last Monitor, less than half of monitored organisations (47%) have a FAIR representation of women in leadership. In most organisations (53%), men are twice as likely to reach leadership positions compared to women.

Since the last Monitor, 7 organisations have successfully lowered their individual FAIR SHARE Index below the 15.0 threshold, achieving a fair representation of women in leadership. Conversely, 6 organisations have lost their fair representation of women in leadership.

In the Monitor 2025, 54% of organisations were reported to have race data on both staff and Board members, making it possible to draw conclusions, though limited, on the representation of BIWOC leaders in their structure. For this sub-group of monitored organisations, women, on average, made up 65% of staff against 54% in leadership.

When examining specific leadership positions, findings show that while women, all races confounded, hold 52% of all leadership roles, BIWOC occupy just about 19% of these positions. In the context of women’s leadership, this translates to BIWOC holding 37% of women leadership roles, which is consistent with the last Monitor where this figure was 36%.

In the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025, 28 international social impact organisations have signed the FAIR SHARE Commitment, a pledge to achieve gender equity in their leadership structure by 2030. These 28 committed organisations represent 31% of all monitored organisations and account for 60% of organisations who actively submitted data for the Monitor.

Beyond their historically consistent participation in the Monitor, committed organisations have also been leading the way in terms of equitable-gender representation in leadership. In the Monitor 2025, these organisations achieved an average FAIR SHARE Index of 10.33, a marking a record low compared to the last few years, and significantly below the 15.0 index threshold. Additionally, 75% of monitored committed organisations recorded a FAIR SHARE Index below 15.0, illustrating a fair representation of women in leadership.

Of course, there are still notable disparities between organisations even within committed organisations. For instance, 25% of committed organisations are yet to have a fair representation of women in leadership, and the highest Index in this sub-group is at a high 32.83, double the recommended index threshold. However, their overall performance illustrates that as a group, committed organisations are not only committed to achieving gender equity, but they are also actively working towards the goal of eliminating gender gaps in their leadership.

 For the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025, 91 international were ranked based on the data we collected. Together, their average FAIR SHARE Index is 20.31.

Organisations with a FAIR representation of women in leadership are highlighted in green and organisations who don’t are highlighted in red.

Below is a ranking of 25 small organisations that were included in the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025. Together, their average FAIR SHARE Index is 17.58.

Organisations with a FAIR representation of women in leadership are highlighted in green and organisations who don’t are highlighted in red.

While small organisations have the lowest FAIR SHARE Index among all clusters, they are still far from a fair representation of women in leadership. Indeed, with a comparative advantage of 1.6, men are 1.6 times more likely to attain a leadership position than women.

 Below is a ranking of 36 medium-sized organisations that were included in the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025. Together, their average FAIR SHARE Index is 18.23.

Organisations with a FAIR representation of women in leadership are highlighted in green and organisations who don’t are highlighted in red.

As the largest cluster, medium organisations present a comparative advantage of 1.9, with men having 1.9 times more chances of attaining a leadership position than women. Although this still falls short of fair representation, medium organisations have made significant progress compared to the last Monitor. Indeed, half of all medium organisations now have a fair share of women leaders.

Below is a ranking of 30 large organisations that were included in the FAIR SHARE Monitor 2025. Together, their average FAIR SHARE Index is 25.09.

Organisations with a FAIR representation of women in leadership are highlighted in green and organisations who don’t are highlighted in red.

With the highest cluster index, large organisations have an index significantly above the average monitor index, highlighting the persisting challenge large organisations face in achieving a fair representation of women in their leadership.