The conversation about female leadership in the business sector has gone beyond the numbers to enter into a more structural analysis: it is no longer just about how many women participate, but about how they influence the spaces where strategic decisions of organizations are made.
El Global Gender Gap Report 2023 of the World Economic Forum The report shows that, although women's participation in the workforce has advanced on various fronts, significant gaps persist at the highest levels of leadership. It indicates that, globally, women hold less than a third of senior management positions, despite comprising almost half of the workforce, reflecting structural challenges in the spaces where corporate decision-making is concentrated.
Along the same lines, the report Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters by McKinsey & Company (2020) The study documents that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity in their executive teams are 25% more likely to achieve above-average profitability than those in the bottom quartile. This finding highlights a consistent relationship between inclusion and sustainable financial performance.
In the Colombian context, the figures paint a picture that gives cause for reflection. According to a survey by ANIF – Center for Economic Thought on the business ecosystem, 27% of SMEs are led by women, while 73% are led by men. This demonstrates that, even in one of the most dynamic segments of the national productive fabric, women's participation in leadership positions still faces significant challenges.
Based on our experience at Araújo Ibarra International Business Consultants, we can report that 57,8% of our team is comprised of women, distributed across all areas of the firm: strategic management (9,9%), general management (2,8%), specialized consulting (15,5%), and administrative functions (29,6%). This composition reflects a structure in which female talent actively participates in generating ideas, managing knowledge, and shaping the organization's direction.
Additionally, during 2025, 59.4% of the firm's revenue came from areas led by women — Trade Policy and Defense, Plan Vallejo, Customs and Exchange, and Internationalization Strategies — which operate under co-leadership schemes with diverse teams, in which different trajectories and perspectives converge, enriching the strategic definition.
The age diversity within our organization reinforces this vision. With women ranging from 22 to 72 years old, we have a mix of young professionals with advanced training and managers with extensive experience. This generational combination not only facilitates the transfer of technical knowledge but also consolidates an institutional vision that fosters continuity, innovation, and the development of sound judgment over time.
We understand gender-focused leadership as a structure that enables sustained career paths, where new generations contribute technical updates and solid academic training, while more experienced generations contribute strategic reading of the regulatory environment, risk management judgment, and experience in complex negotiations.
Article published in the magazine Business Mail (213 edition) de AmCham Colombiawritten by Carolina Ibarra, Director of Structure and Purpose at Araújo Ibarra.
