Women Mean Business: Why Investing in Women is the Smartest Strategy for Growth

Businesses love a good International Women’s Day post. The LinkedIn pledges, the panel discussions, the obligatory ‘inspiring women’ roundups. But what happens when the day is over? Does all that energy translate into actual investment in women’s careers, or does it quietly fizzle out until next March?

The reality is stark: gender equality in the workplace is still a long way off. Women in the UK continue to earn 7.7% less than their male counterparts, and while women now hold40% of FTSE 350 board positions, fewer than ten CEOs in the FTSE 100 are women. This isn’t just a moral issue—it’s a business one. Research consistently shows that diverse leadership teams outperform their peers, yet too many companies still treat gender equity as an HR initiative rather than a strategic imperative.

At Thrive, we see things differently. Women make up 60% of our senior leadership team, and that’s not by accident. We’ve created an environment where women can step up, speak up, and lead with confidence. The results speak for themselves: diverse perspectives drive better decision-making, stronger innovation, and ultimately, better business outcomes.

Moving Beyond Lip Service: How Businesses Can Drive Real Change

If businesses are serious about building truly inclusive workplaces, they need to move beyond performative gestures and take meaningful action. That means:

• Mentorship and sponsorship programmes - Talent alone isn’t enough. Women need visible champions advocating for them in rooms they may not yet have access to. Astudy found that women with sponsors are 20% more likely to secure promotions than those without. Sponsorship ensures that women aren’t just given advice but real opportunities to advance.
• Addressing bias with AI and data - Technology can help tackle bias in recruitment and promotion. AI-driven hiring tools can reduce sentiment-driven bias by 41%, making recruitment more equitable and improving access to leadership roles.
• Encouraging women to build their personal brand - Too often, women hesitate to promote their own achievements. But visibility is key.
• A study found that 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process. Women need to document their successes, tell their stories, and build credibility to ensure their contributions are recognised.
• Creating environments where women’s voices are heard - It’s no secret that men tend to dominate meetings, and women’s ideas are often overlooked. Last year’s ‘Women in the Workplace Report’ found that 39% of women reported being frequently interrupted or spoken over, compared to 20% of men. More male leaders must actively seek input from female colleagues and ensure they have a platform to influence decisions too.

The Networking Divide: Why Women Need a Different Approach

There’s an unspoken challenge that many women in leadership face: traditional networking doesn’t always work for us. Studies show that men tend to network transactionally, building relationships based on direct exchanges of value. Women, on the other hand, focus on building communities and meaningful connections.

This difference creates an uneven playing field when it comes to career progression. If men are more comfortable inserting themselves into power circles, they naturally gain more opportunities. Businesses need to acknowledge this and create structured networking opportunities that don’t rely on outdated, male-dominated models. This could be through peer-led leadership groups, women-focused accelerator programmes, or structured ‘reverse mentoring,’ where senior leaders actively engage with rising female talent. It can even be through WhatsApp or LinkedIn communities. We have ‘WomenIn’, a community founded by our Chief Learning Officer, Helen Marshall, which is 800 people strong and does an incredible job of emphasising women’s voices!

Workplaces Built for Everyone

One of the biggest barriers to true gender equity is that many workplace policies were designed with only one type of worker in mind, the one who doesn’t take career breaks, who doesn’t juggle childcare, and who doesn’t face unconscious bias in promotion cycles.

Take parental leave. At Thrive, we offer the opportunity for equal maternity and paternity leave because gender equality at work is impossible if we don’t also address equality at home. But while policies like this are a good start, the reality is that the burden of balancing career and family still overwhelmingly falls on women. Businesses need to rethink how they support working parents, not just through better policies, but through cultural shifts that normalise flexible working, shared parental responsibilities, and career progression that doesn’t penalise those who take time out.

It’s Not Just ‘The Right Thing to Do’ - It’s Smart Business

Investing in women isn’t just about fairness, it’s about profitability. Companies with diverse leadership teams are more likely to outperform their peers financially, according to McKinsey. And yet, too many businesses still treat gender equality as an afterthought rather than a critical priority.

The economic cost of inaction is staggering. If businesses don’t step up, they risk losing out on top talent, missing key perspectives in decision-making, and falling behind their competitors who understand the true value of an inclusive workforce.

So let’s stop treating gender equality as a PR exercise and start treating it as the business imperative it truly is. Because when women thrive, businesses do too.