The Reykjavik Index for Leadership

Does society think women and men are equally suitable to lead?

The Reykjavík Index for Leadership, the world’s first measure of society’s perceptions of women and men’s suitability to lead, was launched in 2018 by Kantar Public and Women Political Leaders to answer this important question. 

The Reykjavík Index for Leadership 2022-2023 reflects the views of more than 14,000 people between the ages of 18-65, across the G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America), as well as Australia, Iceland, Indonesia, Poland, Singapore, Spain and Thailand. 

Now in its fifth year, the Index provides a view on the extent to which society holds perceptions of prejudice on whether women are seen as equally suitable as men to lead.  

Key findings from the Reykjavik Index for 2022-2023 

It was at The Reykjavik Global Forum, on 8 November 2022 in Iceland, that we shared the early headlines from our latest Reykjavik Index for Leadership. 
 
The collective response from the many global leaders from across politics, business, NGOs, and academia, was one of frustration and dismay – that after five years of measuring perceptions of women’s suitability for leadership, we appear to have made little discernible progress as a global society on viewing women and men as equally suitable to lead. 
 
This should give everyone cause for concern. 

Why do perceptions of equality matter?

Perceptions manifest in numerous and deepening inequalities across every aspect of society, government, and business, such as:

• Leading to further prejudice in the opportunities offered to both boys and girls
• Impacting career paths
• Influencing who we nominate to create and improve policy in our countries, disrupting the chance for policymaking to rightly reflect the societies it is meant to serve  

Ensuring that progress which has been made for women and girls around the world continues is imperative.