Today marks International Women’s Day, an event that has been held for nearly 50 years to recognise and celebrate women. This year, given some of the global discussions currently underway on the Diversity and Inclusion agenda and beyond, the event seems more pertinent than ever.
“It helps us to shine a light on the incredibly diverse talent that we have. In addition to celebrating your success, the one component that is even more important is that each one of you can inspire other women to join our industry and to have success.” – Tea Colaianni, founder and Chair at WiHTL and DiR
To mark the occasion, the House of Lords held a debate on Thursday, focusing on the steps that are being taken to promote women’s participation and leadership in science and technology. And on Wednesday, here at The MBS Group we were joined by dozens of leaders from the HTL and retail communities to launch the 2025 edition of the Women to Watch in Hospitality, Travel, Leisure and Retail Index.
Hosted by AlixPartners, it was wonderful to meet the nearly 100 women profiled for the Index. Paul Flaum, Group CEO of Bourne Leisure and Sophie Dekkers, Chief Commercial Officer of easyJet – both members of the WiHTL Advisory Board – spoke at the event, highlighting the importance of being yourself, pushing yourself to do things outside of your comfort zone and acknowledging the importance of both role models and allies to encourage progress.
Tea Colaianni, founder and Chair at WiHTL and DiR, also reflected on the importance of the Index in her opening remarks saying: “It helps us to shine a light on the incredibly diverse talent that we have. In addition to celebrating your success, the one component that is even more important is that each one of you can inspire other women to join our industry and to have success.”
It has been seven years since we launched the first “Women to Watch” Index and began seeking to move the dial on diversity in the HTL and retail sectors. In this year’s edition, the nearly 100 women featured – each nominated by their employer – shared their career journeys, industry insights, and advice that has stayed with them to inspire future leaders. Many contributors referenced the saying ‘you have to see it to be it’ highlighting the importance of role models and mentors for the continued progress of inclusion within the sectors. Additionally, the variety of experiences that this cohort had in order to reach their current positions exemplifies the fluidity and opportunity that is available for the next generation of leaders.
This year, spotlighting outstanding woman leaders feels more important than ever. For the last decade, it has seemed like companies in the Western World have been moving in one, relatively unified, direction on the DE&I agenda – namely, equality and inclusion was a positive and the right thing. However, to some extent in recent months, it has felt like the tide is turning.
Led by a new administration and philosophy coming out of the US, we have seen swathes of the world’s biggest companies rolling back their commitment to DE&I programmes. Some of the world’s biggest brands like Google, Amazon and Accenture have all said they will no longer use diversity targets in hiring and promoting, and closer to home, just a few weeks ago, BT scrapped DE&I targets from its management bonus scheme.
It is worth remembering that in HTL and retail specifically, the numbers around gender diversity and ethnic diversity for critical Chair, CEO and CFO roles remain painfully unrepresentative of the UK population. In retail, the figures for gender diversity at Chair, CEO and CFO level sit at 8%, 14% and 17% respectively, and at just 10%, 14% and 19% in HTL. This trickles down to ExCo and Direct Reports level, where the percentage of women leaders in HTL and retail has increased from 36% to just 38% between 2019 and 2024.
“A non-linear career is not just okay, but more than okay. It can open up lots of opportunities, so step outside of your comfort zone.” – Sophie Dekkers, Chief Commercial Officer, easyJet
Ethnic diversity tells a similar story. On retail boards there are only 12% of roles held by Directors from an ethnic minority background, with that figure dropping to 9% on the Executive Committee and 10% at Direct Reports level. Across HTL, the figures are slightly lower at 11% on boards, 8% on the Executive Committee and 7% at Direct Reports level.
The latest FTSE Women Leaders report, which was published last week, showed that in the wider business sector, while over 43% of FTSE 350 board roles are now held by women, the percentage of woman CEOs has remained stubbornly low at around 7%.
In light of this context, the ‘Women to Watch Index’ is an optimistic reminder that, not only are there a plethora of outstanding women leaders in the sectors but that there are a huge number of routes and opportunities for the next generation of diverse leaders to take. As Sophie Dekkers said when speaking at the event on Wednesday: “A non-linear career is not just okay, but more than okay. It can open up lots of opportunities, so step outside of your comfort zone.”
In a continuation from last year, we have carved out a section of our Index for women in senior technology and engineering roles to reflect the ongoing implementation of technology, and increasingly, artificial intelligence across HTL and retail. This is particularly relevant as the significant ethical and reputational risks associated with the adoption of AI tools means there is even greater importance for gender balance and diverse representation around the decision-making table.
We are immensely proud of this report, and we’d like to congratulate each and every “Women to Watch” who contributed to this year’s publication and thank them for sharing their stories. They are an inspiring reminder of the opportunities that are available for future generations of leaders.
HTL and retail are vibrant and creative sectors which are constantly evolving and adapting, and they play a critical role in shaping our communities. By continuing to share and reflect on leadership stories like these “Women to Watch”, especially at a time when the conversation on diversity and inclusion is changing so rapidly, we can help to motivate, inspire and influence more leaders to step forward and push our sectors forward.
Congratulations to all the phenomenal women leaders featured in this year’s Index!
