New 2025 data: women want the promotion as much as men do, once they get the same support
Four out of five women say they hope to advance in their careers. Eighty-six percent of men do. The 2025 Women in the Workplace report, produced by McKinsey and LeanIn, shows that once women get the same backing men already receive, that six-point distance disappears entirely.
That should settle a very long debate. Ask almost anyone why women have historically become scarce past the director level, and the explanation offered has long been that they simply didn't want those roles as badly. They opt out. They put family first. They are "less ambitious," a phrase used in more talent reviews than anyone would admit under oath. The data suggests the drive is there, at nearly the same rate. What's left over isn't a personality trait. It's a reaction to what's around them.
Source of the figure
Since 2015, McKinsey and LeanIn have jointly carried out a yearly survey examining American companies and the people who work for them, titled Women in the Workplace. The 2025 edition asks women and men whether they hope to advance, then examines what else is true of the people who answer yes. What stands out most is that six-point difference. The finding beneath it is that among employees who report equal manager support, sponsorship and encouragement, the gap disappears. This is a survey, not an experiment, so it can't prove that support creates ambition. It can show that the two go hand in hand, and that "women want it less" falls apart once you look at women who are getting what men get. That same research showed that among people starting out in their careers, 31% of women had a sponsor, while 45% of men did. The support is what's missing, and it's missing early.
How this plays out in a real Greater Cincinnati boardroom
Imagine yourself in a talent review in a Cincinnati office tower. You're a vice president, and the slate for an open SVP role has three names on it, two of them men. Someone says the woman on the list "hasn't really raised her hand." You know her. Twice she did speak up, during private check-ins with a manager in Blue Ash who simply smiled and moved on to another topic. The men on the shortlist were never asked to volunteer for their spot. Those sponsors spoke up on their behalf in meeting rooms much like this one, from Covington to Mason. The ambition is identical. The amplification is not. By the end of the meeting, her name has a question mark beside it, and that question mark is about her, not about the manager who never carried the message upward.
Why this matters to you
If you've ever been told you need to "want it more," you were handed the wrong diagnosis, most likely by someone whose own wanting was never questioned. The condition that closes the gap isn't inside you. It's a manager who says your name when you're not in the room, a sponsor who puts you on the slate, and encouragement that shows up before you have to ask. An organization either provides those things or it doesn't. You can go looking for them, but understand that you're making up for a missing input, not repairing a flaw.
If you're building that support from scratch, the region has places to start. Groups such as the Greater Cincinnati chapter of Business and Professional Women, CREW Greater Cincinnati, and the Women's Council of Realtors Cincinnati Area offer peer networks where senior women often make introductions. The Women's Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's Leadership Center run programs built around the kind of visibility the study describes. And if you're weighing a move into your own venture, the Women's Business Center of Greater Cincinnati, run by ECDI, and SCORE Greater Cincinnati both offer free guidance.
SHORT Take action
Make the wanting clear and hard to overlook. Put it in writing to your manager: "I would like to be included in consideration for the next director-level opening." What would you need to see from me to put my name forward?" Then ask one senior person outside your reporting line to act as a reference when the slate is drawn. By doing this yourself, you create for yourself the advocacy that men tend to receive automatically.
Who in your company says your name when you're not there?