The Equal Pay Act of 1963. The 9-to-5 movement. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In.

The battle for gender equality in the workplace has a long history and it’s one that’s still being fought in every industry and level of work, from C-suite offices and boardrooms to service centers and shop floors. Along the way, new terms have emerged as our collective understanding of gender dynamics has grown: the glass ceiling, the broken rung, impostor syndrome, pink-collar jobs.

But what is the state of gender diversity and equality in the workplace in 2022? How much progress has been made in closing the gender pay gap and uplifting underrepresented groups? To answer this question, we’ll look at recent statistics and headline-making stories about women in the workplace, piecing together the overall picture of gender equality today and how to move forward.

Before we dive into the data, and anecdata, it’s important to get some context on gender equality as a whole. Discrimination doesn’t start and stop at the office door, it affects every aspect of life, from the personal to the professional. And it begins much, much earlier than you may think.