From insight into action: advancing women in business leadership in the Midlands

This report builds on the 2022 Women in Business Leadership in the Midlands study, which aimed to understand the representation of women on boards and women-owned businesses in the region, identify barriers to gender diversity and inclusivity, and provide recommendations to support women’s leadership. Three years on, this follow-up report explores what has changed—and what remains unresolved—drawing on interviews with senior women and a focus group of male business leaders to assess progress at regional, organisational, and individual levels. At the regional level, change is happening slowly. Women in senior roles are actively supporting others, but cultural mindsets and old recruitment norms remain entrenched. Role model visibility has improved but tends to reach limited audiences. Support networks are more accessible, helped by more flexibility and digital platforms, but time and workload pressures continue to restrict engagement. A new theme around intersectionality emerged, highlighting additional barriers based on ethnicity, age, and education, which compound the challenges women already face. At the organisational level, flexible working is now more accepted—even in manufacturing—but remains unevenly applied and often treated as a favour, not a right. Formal targets for women’s advancement are seen as helpful by some, but others view them as undermining credibility. Mentoring stands out as the most positively cited form of support, especially when sustained over time. However, structured more formal mentoring schemes are not consistently available, and their value is often dependent on individual effort and as such become less visable or available to women. At the individual level, women continue to fund their own training and development, as formal opportunities outside Government funded STEM initiatives remain scarce. Allyship—especially from senior men—was widely recognised as a key enabler. A new insight in this study is the evolving role of women’s own mindset: confidence, risktaking, and a rejection of outdated norms were viewed as key strengths, even while imposter syndrome and conformity pressures still linger. Male business leaders confirmed many of these challenges and emphasised the need to rebrand the Midlands as a modern, more inclusive region. They called for greater outreach in schools, support for early-stage female talent, and more inclusive recruitment practices. They also acknowledged the role of passive misogyny, uneven allyship, and outdated assumptions about leadership readiness as ongoing barriers. This report offers a refreshed set of recommendations across regional, organisational, and individual levels, and outlines next steps for research and accountability. Taken together, the findings suggest that while isolated gains have been made, the pace of change remains slow, and further action is needed to embed inclusion as a systemic feature of the Midlands business environment.

Citation

Mahmood, S. and Jones, J. (2025) From Insight into Action: Advancing Women in Business Leadership in the Midlands, University of Wolverhampton, UK.

Publisher

University of Wolverhampton

URI

https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626029

Type

Research report

Collections

Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences