Bridging the gap: What will it take to get more women in management

In 2019, MAS set a goal to achieve 30% women in management by 2025 as part of our Plan for Change. We wanted to aim high, but we also recognised the magnitude of the challenge. Even then, it was clear that deep structural and cultural barriers were holding women back from advancing in their careers.

The data reflected this. In Sri Lanka, women held only 12.5% of senior and middle management positions in 2021, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. And this is not a challenge unique to us. In 2020, women held just under 30% of similar roles across G20 countries (ILO, 2020), with cultural norms and societal expectations consistently cited as major obstacles.

Women are still overwhelmingly expected to shoulder the majority of domestic and caregiving responsibilities, even while working full time. The pandemic and economic crisis only intensified this imbalance. As caregiving, household duties, and work responsibilities all collapsed into the same physical space, many women were forced to exit the workforce or put their ambitions on hold. Through my work with Women Go Beyond, I’ve seen firsthand how these pressures play out. While we continue to advocate for women’s advancement up the career ladder, it is equally important to acknowledge and actively address the systemic obstacles that continue to stand in the way.

When looking at the broader challenge, female labour force participation in Sri Lanka stands at 31.6% as of 2023 – a figure that has barely shifted over the last decade, despite rising educational attainment and economic development. In fact, this marks a decline from a peak of over 45% in 1990. Much of the earlier gains came with the liberalisation of the economy in the 1980s and 1990s, which expanded job opportunities for women. But those policy shifts were not accompanied by the structural and cultural reforms needed to help women stay and grow in the workforce. As a result, we continue to see a drop-off in female representation at mid-to-senior levels.

Our work through Women Go Beyond, MAS Holdings’ flagship women’s empowerment program, has reflected this wider national trend. Launched over two decades ago, the program is designed to support the personal and professional development of women in our workforce; focusing on areas such as career advancement, skills development, health and well-being, and gender-based violence prevention.

Improving representation in leadership

As an industry that employs a high number of women at the factory floor, we noticed that hiring and retaining women in executive and above roles posed specific challenges. Recognising that this was something that needed to be addressed, we committed to improving representation in leadership and set a goal of reaching 30% women in management by 2025, as part of our Plan for Change. We’ve since reached 26%, and while this is a notable achievement, the process of getting here has surfaced important lessons. Namely, that unconscious bias, and structural limitations, particularly around care work, remain the most stubborn barriers.

Before diving into what needs to change, it’s important to ask – why does this matter?

For one, it’s about equity. But it’s also about building stronger, more sustainable businesses. According to a Forbes study, diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time compared to individuals, and decisions made and executed by diverse teams deliver 60% better results. Moreover, homogenous groups are more prone to groupthink, while diverse teams tend to examine information more rigorously and consider a wider range of perspectives. This diversity of thought leads to stronger risk management, more resilient leadership, and healthier workplace cultures.

It also translates to better ESG outcomes, a connection established by Catalyst research, which shows that inclusive organisations perform better on environmental, social, and governance metrics. And in the context of a shrinking labour force and ageing population, improving female participation isn’t just a moral imperative, it’s an economic one.

So why are women still not making it into management in greater numbers?

The first and perhaps most foundational barrier is bias, both conscious and unconscious. In broader society, women are still subject to persistent questions: Can she handle it? Can she travel? She just had a baby – will she be able to cope? These kinds of perceptions, whether spoken or implied, affect how women are viewed in professional settings, and how they view themselves.

At MAS, we had conversations through one-on-ones, focus groups, and surveys, and what emerged echoed global research. For example, it was found that women are far more reluctant to put their hand up for promotions. They often feel the need to tick every box before applying for a role and tend to question themselves more than their male peers. This self-doubt demonstrates how pervasive these hidden biases are, and they are often reinforced by workplace cultures that often reward visibility over capability and overlook the structural challenges women face outside of work.

We also encountered persistent assumptions about meritocracy. Many ask, “Shouldn’t it just be about merit?” But merit doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s shaped by access to opportunity, mentorship, networking, and perception. Two employees may have identical KPIs, but if one is seen as “more dynamic” or “easier to work with,” they’re more likely to be promoted. Those perceptions are often gendered.

These biases don’t emerge in isolation, they are often reinforced by the structural limitations women face. The most significant and ongoing challenge is the lack of supportive infrastructure for care. Childcare, eldercare, and domestic responsibilities still fall disproportionately on women. The world of work remains built for someone who can devote all their time to the job, often assuming that person doesn’t have caregiving duties. That assumption excludes many women from leadership tracks or forces them to opt out altogether.

Lack of dependable care options

At MAS, we’ve tried to address this by offering childcare support in 36 locations. But in countries like Sri Lanka and India, where families often rely on informal caregiving networks and access to quality childcare is limited, this alone isn’t enough. Cultural reluctance toward formal childcare, combined with a lack of good support services, leaves many women without backup. For working mothers in particular, the lack of dependable care options remains a major barrier, and this requires systemic investment beyond the efforts of individual companies.

Internally, we’ve tackled some of these challenges through mentorship and sponsorship programmes, which have led to higher retention, more promotions, and greater representation of women in management. We’ve also seen improvements in traditionally male-dominated areas like industrial engineering, where leadership launched a targeted programme two years ago to support women. As a result, 10 more women have stepped into management roles in just the past year.

We’re also addressing structural and cultural barriers head-on. Our unconscious bias reduction efforts have created greater understanding and support for women at work,. At the same time, we’ve strengthened accountability by tracking recruitment, promotion, and pipeline data across every job family and location, ensuring leadership stays focused on achieving meaningful progress.

Other companies are making progress too. John Keells Holdings’ decision to offer 100 days of paternity leave is a great step forward, which sends the message that caregiving is a shared responsibility. It’s not just the leave itself, it’s what it signals. At MAS, we currently offer five days of paternity leave, and while we know it’s not enough, we’re actively working to increase this. 

Globally, we see that culture and infrastructure make a difference. In our operations in Vietnam, for example, there’s greater societal acceptance of women working, stronger social protection systems, and less pushback against women in leadership. It’s not perfect, but it shows what’s possible when systems align to support participation.

Still, corporate initiatives alone won’t close this gap. We need policy-level change. That includes public investment in quality childcare and eldercare infrastructure, equitable parental leave policies, and frameworks that de-risk care responsibilities for both employers and employees. These kinds of systemic interventions do more than ease logistical burdens, they help shift mindsets. When state and corporate policies recognise caregiving as a shared responsibility, it challenges the outdated assumption that it falls solely on women. Over time, this can reshape the unconscious biases that hold women back, by normalising the idea that both men and women can lead, care, and contribute equally at work and at home. In short, structural change helps drive cultural change.

At the end of the day, the economic argument is clear. We cannot afford to leave women out. But the moral argument matters too. If we are serious about building inclusive and resilient organisations, we must do more than increase participation, we must ensure women are represented at every level of decision-making. Because without women in management, we’re not just missing diversity, we’re missing better leadership, stronger outcomes, and the opportunity to shape workplaces that reflect the realities and needs of the people they serve.

(The writer is Head of Women Go Beyond at MAS Holdings.)