Women's representation in the workplace declines significantly as they move up the career ladder in the UK, according to new data from LinkedIn for the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report 2026. At the entry-level, women make up nearly half of all workers (49.6%), but this number drops sharply to 21.2% at the C-suite level, which includes top executives like CEOs and CFOs. This trend is not unique to the UK—globally, the percentage of women in entry-level roles is 46%, but it drops to 23% in senior leadership positions across 57 economies. Industries such as transportation, infrastructure, real estate, and financial services show the most significant decline, suggesting that women face greater challenges in advancing to leadership roles in these sectors. Career breaks, often taken for full-time parenting, are a key factor in this gap. In the UK, women are more than five times as likely as men to take such breaks, with 29.1% of women doing so compared to just 5.3% of men. The LinkedIn research is based on data from its 1.3 billion global members, offering insights into workplace trends and gender dynamics. The findings also reveal that women may be falling behind in the rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence (AI). Last year, women accounted for just 25% of new hires in AI roles, compared to 50% in non-AI roles. Additionally, only 13% of C-suite AI executives at AI firms are women. However, women are more likely than men to be in jobs that may be affected by generative AI, which is a type of AI that can create text, images, and other content. The report highlights that as AI becomes more central to businesses and economies, gender equality depends not only on who is impacted by the technology but also on who is involved in creating and using it. Women are underrepresented in roles that involve developing AI models, such as software engineering and data science. Progress toward gender equality in leadership has stalled for the fourth year in a row, according to Sue Duke, LinkedIn's vice president for global public policy. While women are entering the workforce in nearly equal numbers to men, many are leaving the path to leadership roles along the way. If the current trend continues, girls born today may not see equal representation in top positions during their lifetime. This issue is especially acute for women working in AI, where gender gaps are even more pronounced. Ms. Duke emphasized that it is possible to change this trajectory by supporting flexible career paths, such as allowing career breaks, and by investing in education and skills training, especially in areas where gender parity is weakest. The World Economic Forum’s 2026 report ranks the UK as the fifth-highest performer in terms of gender parity, out of 145 economies analyzed. Its gender parity score of 0.842 means the UK is still behind countries like Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Namibia. A score of 1 would indicate full gender equality, while any score below one reflects a gender gap. The report evaluates gender parity across four key areas: economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. While the UK has made progress in some areas, the findings highlight that significant work remains to ensure equal opportunities for women in leadership and emerging fields like AI.