The State of Women in 2026: Progress, Pay Gaps and Participation

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4.1 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

It’s Women’s History Month, and we’re taking a look at how American women are doing—professionally and economically. Government data show that women’s overall labor force participation is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. But as the labor market weakens, the reality—especially for mothers of young children—is more complicated. Host Alex Ossola speaks with WSJ economics reporter Harriet Torry and Matthew Nestler, senior economist at KPMG, about the trends driving the data and what it really means for women today. Further Reading: Coronavirus Employment Shock Hits Women Harder Than Men Women’s Return to the Workforce Piles Momentum on a Hot Economy Millions of Women Left Work During the Pandemic. Where Are They Now? In America’s Return to the Office, Women Are Falling Behind Women’s Pay Is Falling Behind. Is the Return to the Office to Blame? DEI Rules That Changed Corporate Boards Are Vanishing Black Americans Are Losing Jobs in a Warning for the Economy Labor Force Participation Rate - Women Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Boardrooms love buzzwords. AI, climate, resilience. But what do they actually mean for CFOs and
0:06.1	execs trying to survive the next earnings call? That's where the pre-read comes in. Real experts and real talk.
0:11.7	Subscribe to the pre-read, presented by Workieva. Hey, what's news listeners. It's Sunday, March 15th.
0:20.1	I'm Alex O'Sala for the Wall Street Journal.
0:22.4	This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world.
0:32.3	On today's show, it may be Women's History Month, but today we're not just looking back.
0:37.1	How are American women from the C-suite to child care actually doing professionally and economically in 2026?
0:45.8	There's little doubt that women have made great strides in the past few decades.
0:50.3	Women are holding more managerial roles or top jobs at companies than in the past.
0:55.3	They're also more likely to have a college degree.
0:57.8	That's been the case for a few years now.
1:00.0	According to McKinsey, women now control about a third of all retail financial assets in the U.S.,
1:05.4	and that's expected to rise to between 40 and 45 percent by 2030.
1:10.2	But underneath all these data points, the reality for many individual women is a bit more
1:15.1	complicated.
1:16.1	The pay gap between men and women keeps getting wider, particularly so for Black and Hispanic
1:21.0	women.
1:21.9	Parents of young children are seeing the cost of child care skyrocket.
1:25.4	A 2025 survey by care.com found that families in the U.S.
1:29.6	spent an average of 22 percent of their household income on child care alone. A rollback of
1:35.0	DEI policies means S&P 500 companies are appointing fewer women and people of color. To get a sense of
1:41.7	what's driving these trends and how women are actually doing as a whole,
	...

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