The Reykjavik Index for Leadership

Powerful evidence in the journey to equality between women and men

How does society feel about women in leadership? This is what the Reykjavik Index for Leadership, from Kantar and Women Political Leaders, looks to understand. It measures how women and men are viewed in terms of their suitability for leadership, across twenty-two sectors, from childcare to government, media to automotive.

The Reykjavik Index for Leadership for 2019-2020, as with 2018-2019 researches Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and USA, and this year is extended to also include Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Essentially, the research asks, how comfortable is society with women in leadership compared to men in leadership?

The research enables us to understand both where stereotypes endure and where public policy or private sector intervention is making a difference. But, progress is not guaranteed. It is our explicit goal to reach Index scores of 100, where men and women are perceived to be equally suitable to lead, but we have a long way to go. We rely on evidence as a tool to track our progress on the journey ahead, holding ourselves and our leaders to account.