The Reykjavík Index for Leadership

Gender Equality in Leadership: is 2024 the start of a downward trend?

Developed in partnership with the Reykjavík Global Forum, The Reykjavík Index for Leadership is the measure of how women and men are perceived in terms of their suitability for leadership.  

Measuring societal perceptions across the G7 nations since 2018, our Index is the leading global measure, providing robust data, insights on key trends and the dissonance between genders and generations, to inform strategic decision-making in public policy. 

Top three headlines from our 2024 report 

1. Are we seeing the start of a downward trend in our pursuit of gender equality in leadership?

The data from our 2024 research, across the G7 countries, would indicate that we are.

Any score of less than 100 is an indication of prejudice in society.

2. Young people are now more prejudiced than their parents - and the gap is widening.

The dissonance between the younger generation, and those aged 35 and older, is getting more pronounced and seems to be increasing for each year we measure attitudes.

3. Men and women both show levels of prejudice against women in leadership roles.

The fact that both women and men hold perceptions which are prejudiced against women’s suitability for leadership or positions of power, means that this is not about ‘fixing’ women or men. It is about how we tackle these prejudices across society as a whole. In fact, the G7 data shows not only a widening gender gap, but also a regression in the attitudes of women.

Background to our 2024 Reykjavík Index for Leadership

This is our sixth year of gathering data consistently across the G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America).  In addition this year, we also collected data on all Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as The Netherlands.

Early findings from the 2024 Reykjavík Index for Leadership, were presented by Dr Michelle Harrison, Global CEO of Verian at the Reykjavík Global Forum in November 2023.