Why are Australian women increasingly turning their backs on the corporate ladder?

On the surface, the numbers look stable, and retention looks healthy. What we’re actually witnessing is a period of artificial stability where women stay in roles not for loyalty, but for survival in a tightening economy – what I like to call job hugging. 

For HR leaders, this silence is often mistaken for satisfaction. 31 May was the gender target deadline for larger businesses, but a more insidious trend lurks. While 81% of men see a clear path for women to the top, over a third of women have simply switched off. They’ve done the maths and decided the energy required no longer matches the reward. When female CEOs still earn $83,493 less on average than their male peers, opting out is a rational, albeit devastating, calculation. 

To move forward, we must bridge the disconnect between corporate appearances and the lived experience of the workforce, and that starts with being honest about how we got ourselves in this situation in the first place. 

Unpacking the systemic bottleneck

For years, the narrative suggested women lacked the confidence to ask for more. Our data proves this is a myth – where nearly all women feel professionally confident, yet only 14% received a promotion in 2025. This is nearly half the rate of their male peers.

This disparity has triggered an increase in collective pessimism among women. Expectations for career progression have almost halved in a single year, crashing from 30 to just 17%, leading to a systematic bottleneck that continues to get worse. 

In many Australian boardrooms and executive suites, the culture of being tapped on the shoulder still prevails, leaving qualified women to hit a glass ceiling that those above them seem entirely unaware of. And yet the mechanism designed to hold employers accountable is rapidly losing the confidence of the very people it was meant to protect.

Addressing the transparency gap

The introduction of mandatory pay gap reporting was intended to be a catalyst for change. Right now, it’s falling well short of that brief. 

Only 42% of women believe that public reporting drives real progress. More concerning is the collapse in trust, as the belief that employers are actively working to close the gap has dropped from 51 to 35%.

This lack of faith has created a workforce that is disproportionately switching off because it feels disempowered. The number of women comfortable discussing pay gaps during the interview process has also fallen significantly. 

Visibility without intent is theatre rather than transparency. And Australian women have stopped buying tickets. If HR leaders continue to prioritise box-ticking over genuine internal change, this gap between data and lived experience will only widen, undermining any chance of meaningful progress.

Rebuilding the ladder

If we want to reignite ambition and stop the talent drain, HR leaders need to move beyond high-level reporting and provide tangible evidence of change. This year of stalled momentum is a golden opportunity to do the deep, cultural work required to rebuild the ladder from the inside out. Three steps organisations can take to rebuild the ladder internally are: 

1. Formalise sponsorship. Mentorship is often about advice, but sponsorship is about access. To re-engage the portion of women who have started to switch off, organisations need programs that move beyond passive coffee chats and into active advocacy. This means senior leaders using their social capital to open doors and ensure women are in the room when the shoulder-tapping happens.

2. Be open about your commitment. Instead of treating pay gap reporting as a regulatory obligation, the narrative can be brought indoors. HR leaders should explain the internal roadmap for closing gaps and be honest about where the roadblocks are. Explaining the strategy removes the silence where suspicion currently thrives. If the workforce understands the plan, they are far more likely to stay for its execution.

3. Defend the infrastructure enabling participation: Last year, the increase in total benefits for women fell from 28 to 17%. In a cost-cutting environment, wellness and childcare supports are often the first on the chopping block, but these are the lifelines that maintain a resilient workforce. Protecting these benefits is more than just a perk but a necessity for retention.

Building a legendary culture 

This year represents a pivotal moment for Australian business to unlock the full potential of our workforce. We can continue with the status quo of box-ticking and compliance. Or we can accept that 2026 is the year that choice runs out. 

When women feel seen, supported, and fairly compensated, they stop job hugging and start climbing. Businesses that can depend on their talent rather than a tapped-out workforce will also feel these benefits. When the ladder is worth climbing, the entire business landscape prospers.

Anna Volkova is the head of people and culture at HiBob APJ