Declining HR, advancing technology: the new priorities for women leaders
Amidst global economic and geopolitical tensions, the priorities of senior women leaders around the world are shifting significantly, according to KPMG's latest Global Female Leaders Outlook. The research reveals that with the unprecedented focus on artificial intelligence and digitalisation, individual efforts are becoming more pronounced, while gender inequalities in the workplace remain stubbornly present.
The most striking conclusion of the survey, which analysed the responses of nearly 500 female senior executives from 47 countries, is that women are adapting to challenges with unprecedented speed and pragmatism: the role of digitalisation and AI has never been more prominent.
Meanwhile, the traditionally empathetic virtues of leadership are increasingly being matched by performance-based thinking.
In 2025, 56 percent of female decision makers will prioritise technology investment - up from 26 percent in 2023. In parallel, support for HR-focused initiatives has dropped from 74 percent to 44 percent. "AI has become not only an innovation tool, but also a key to cost efficiency, competitiveness and corporate resilience - while employee training and retention is ranked slightly lower in corporate action plans, with instead AI support," concludes Ágnes Rakó, Partner at KPMG.
The new definition of success: personal ambition, hard work, adaptability
A crisis-ridden environment is reshaping not only corporate strategies but also the self-image of women leaders. Leadership patterns previously described as primarily "communicative" or "strategic" are beginning to be replaced by attitudes driven by "hard work" and "personal ambition". These traits have seen a 77 percent and 58 percent increase in importance over the past two years, respectively, according to the survey.
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Leadership effectiveness now depends not only on skills and knowledge, but also on the ability to adapt quickly to constant change. 84 percent of respondents saidagility is one of the most important organisational survival factors in the current economic and geopolitical environment.
In contrast, the importance of HR and ESG risks is declining
- even if they remain key areas in the long term.
Discrimination, invisible barriers and gender blind spots
While the role of women leaders in many industries is steadily expanding, gender equality is still not a solved problem. The survey found that two-thirds of respondents reported personally experiencing bias or discrimination in the workplace in the past three years. This proportion has remained virtually unchanged for years, suggesting that corporate diversity efforts are not always having real results.
Despite this, few companies still have transparent equality data. Only 53% of respondents can confirm that their workplace has clear, quantified data on equal pay. This indicates not only a lack of transparency, but also that the gender pay gap remains a difficult problem to measure and therefore difficult to address.
Careers built from within: the role of the network is important again
New trends are also emerging in the career paths of women leaders. Fewer and fewer are planning to change companies for their next career move - instead preferring internal progression and organic development. In this process, the role of personal relationships and consciously built professional networks is becoming more important: two thirds of respondents now consider this a key factor in becoming a leader. This trend is also reflected in the fact that 81% are increasingly active in using social media platforms specifically for business purposes - for networking, visibility building and professional positioning.
Optimistic vision despite the difficulties
Surprisingly, despite the overall economic challenges, female senior executives are optimistic about the future of their own companies. Ninety percent of respondents expect sales to grow over the next three years, and the majority also expect to expand their workforce. Although they are more cautious about the global economy, they expect their industries and companies to become more independent, adaptive and internally resilient - through technological advances, digital maturity and new management thinking.
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