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TITAN • EXECUTIVE BRIEFING • MAY 2026
Shaping the Future of Women's Leadership in Europe
What 121 senior women leaders across Europe are asking for – in their own words.
Author
Research
Date
Ashley Herndon
Based on survey conducted from May to October 2025 with the support of Laura Padovan & Marilena Viotto
May 2026
– FORWARD
What this briefing is
This briefing reports the findings of an original survey of 121 women leaders across sixteen European countries, conducted between May and November 2025. The questions were designed to do something the existing literature rarely does: ask senior European women, directly and in their own words, what they actually want from a community of peers – and what is missing from what already exists.
The findings are unambiguous. The headline numbers are striking. The open responses are even more striking.
What follows is not a marketing document. It is what women said. Where we have added analysis, we have signposted it. Where the women's language is clearer than mine, I have stepped out of the way.
If you are an experienced woman in leadership in Europe and any of this is familiar, we would love to be in conversation with you.
– EXECUTUVE SUMMARY
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The headline findings
HEADLINE NUMBERS – N = 150, 15 COUNTRIES
81%
WANT PEER ADVISORY
81% said they want confidential peer advisory groups where they can both get and provide counsel that will accelerate their leadership and support them personally.
88%
WILL INVEST TIME & ENERGY
88% said they are willing to commit at least 2 hours per month to their peer advisory group – that is real time and energy, not symbolic.
76%
WANT A CURATED COMMUNITY
Women leaders want a community that is designed to actively support one another. Senior women leaders want real talk, problem solving support and collaborative ecosystem building.
65%
UNSATISFIED WITH CURRENT NETWORK
65% are already in a women's professional network – but not getting what they need.
SERVICES OF INTEREST
81%
59%
Curated peer advisory groups
Curated networking with senior women
52%
Board preparation or placement opportunities
49%
50%
Mentorship
Executive coaching
MOST CITED CHALLENGES
62%
59%
Work-life balance
Pay gap
59%
Gender bias or systemic barriers
45%
42%
41%
40%
Navigating transitions or promotions at senior level
Building influence and visibility
Imposter syndrome and confidence gap
Lack of peer support
Three open-ended findings dominate the qualitative responses, again and again. Existing networks are perceived as inspiring but lacking concreteness – women want pathways to actual outcomes, not more events or panels. Continuity is the missing word – the absence of follow-up, of pathways, of what happens after the workshop or networking event. And senior women want sponsorship, not mentorship – they have access to mentors; what they lack is the structural sponsorship that translates capability into the next role.
The overall picture: senior European women are not under-served in number of communities. They are under-served in the type and depth of community that addresses where they actually are. The gap is structural, named, and large.
– RESPONDENTS
About the respondents
Total Respondents
150
Countries Represented
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, UK (single responses from Europeans currently located in Israel, UAE, USA)
Age Groupings
78% ages 45 and older
17% ages 35 to 44
05% ages 35 and younger
Level Groupings
17% C-Suite Executive
34% Senior Leader (VP/Director)
28% Manager
10% Entrepreneur / Founder
11% Solopreneur/ Consultant / Coach
Currently in Women's Network
65%
Connected to a Women-on-Boards Network
25%
– FINDING 1
The appetite is overwhelming – and specifically for senior peer infrastructure
The two questions that asked respondents to rate their interest in (a) a curated community of senior women leaders and (b) a small, confidential peer advisory group produced almost identical results. Three quarters of respondents are clearly interested. Fewer than one in twenty are not.
INTEREST LEVEL
CURATED COMMUNITY
PEER ADVISORY GROUP
5 – Extremely interested
50% (60)
45% (55)
4
26% (32)
36% (43)
3
18% (22)
13% (16)
2
3% (4)
3% (4)
1 – Not at all
2% (3)
2% (3)
Mean score
4.17 / 5
4.18 / 5
88%
are willing to commit at least 2 hours per month to an experience of this kind. This is not an audience looking for a newsletter. This is an audience willing to invest the time in a real, ongoing relationship.
Time commitment willingness: 1 hour (16%), 2 hours (38%), 2-4 hours (32%), more than 4 hours (13%). The signal is unambiguous: the demand for senior-peer infrastructure exists, and it is concentrated.
– FINDING 2
They want concrete outcomes, not more content
Formats that produce tangible outcomes outperform formats that produce learning or inspiration. Senior women have already been to the workshops. They have already done the training. What they want now is the structural infrastructure – who they know, who advocates for them, who puts their name forward.
"Many initiatives are inspiring, but often lack a clear pathway to tangible outcomes like board placements, strategic roles, or high-level visibility.
SURVEY RESPONDENT, ITALY
"I would love to have continuity, follow-up actions – not only lunch / dinner and discussions."
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Too many networking communities already. Missing the network that can actually help me grow, solve problems faster and maybe even step up and join boards."
SURVEY RESPONDENT
The diagnosis is consistent. The infrastructure to meet exists. The infrastructure to advance does not.
– FINDING 3
The format that wins is hybrid; the rhythm that works is regular
Asked what format they would prefer for engaging with a peer advisory group, the answer was unambiguous.
79%
prefer hybrid (virtual + in person) as their primary format
11%
prefer in person only
7% virtual only
A pure-virtual offering will fail this audience. A pure in–person offering will exclude geographically. The model that fits is hybrid: monthly virtual continuity, periodic in person depth. The in–person element is not optional.
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"I want to meet meet frequently enough so we can form real connections and support feels real, but time is a challenge, so virtual monthly meetings and sometimes in person meetings. I really love the idea of retreats, to really connect and build friendships."
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Adding more embodied experience events which will create connections at a deeper level would be something new and different."
The depth that senior women say they need cannot be built only through screens.
– FINDING 4
The European context is not a constraint – it is the asset
88%
rated European context as somewhat to extremely important. Only 10% considered it unimportant. Generic, US–imported solutions do not meet the need.
Solutions transplanted from the United States – without acknowledgement of the EU Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive deadline of June 2026, without acknowledgement of multi-language and multi-country dynamics, without acknowledgement of the very different relationship European senior women have with the work, amongst themselves – will be perceived as missing something fundamental.
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Get the support from EU gender gap advocates and programmes. Get strong sponsorships in place."
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Share different points of view in different countries and try to cover the gap where it's still significant."
– FINDING 5
The challenges senior women name are structural – and persistent
These are not new. They have been named publicly for over a decade. Their persistence at the top of the list, among senior women in 2025, is itself a finding. These are not problems the system has solved – they are problems the system has stopped pretending to solve.
Work–life balance
Pay gap
Gender bias or systemic barriers
Navigating senior-level transitions
Building influence or visibility
Imposter syndrome
Lack of peer support
Phase-of-life discrimination
Micro-aggression
Caregiving load
62%
59%
59%
45%
42%
41%
40%
35%
31%
27%
Isolation or loneliness appears at only 8% on the closed list question – but recurs consistently in the open responses. The 8% figure and the recurring loneliness are not a contradiction. It is evidence that the loneliness is real, but that admitting it on a closed-list survey carries a social cost. People have commented that they "should not feel lonely at the top", yet many do.
"There is no real peer support at the top – it can be very lonely."
SURVEY RESPONDENT, UK
– FINDING 6
Sponsorship – not more mentorship – is the missing infrastructure
Across the open responses, one distinction recurs: mentorship exists, sponsorship does not. The distinction matters. Sponsorship uses influence to put your name forward, advocate for you in rooms you are not in, spend political capital on your advancement. Sponsorship is structural.
2 x
Women with senior sponsors are twice as likely to be promoted – yet only 31% of women have a senior sponsor, compared with 45% of men (McKinsey & LeanIn, Women in the Workplace 2025.)
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Other women opening up their networks and willing to be advocates to these colleagues / contacts for you."
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Access to real power networks / sponsorship – not just mentorship. Concrete pathways to board seats and top executive roles."
– FINDING 7
The role of men – contested, but consistently named
A finding that did not feature in the early hypothesis, but emerged repeatedly in the open responses, deserves separate treatment. A meaningful number of respondents – particularly senior ones – explicitly named the importance of involving men in any genuine solution to women's leadership advancement.
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"More cohesion. In many women's networks, there is lack of male representatives. We need to break cultural barriers both ways."
SURVEY RESPONDENT
"Trying to work with men as well, to change their perspective on what is the standard of leadership, to form real male allies."
This view is not universal – many respondents continue to value women-only space, particularly for the depth of conversation that requires it. But the call for integration of male sponsors and allies into the broader infrastructure is an explicit answer in any new model.
The synthesis: women-only depth in core peer advisory, paired with deliberate, structured engagement of senior male sponsors and allies in the wider ecosystem. Not either / or – both, by design.
– FINDING 8
What would make membership worth paying for
Respondents were asked, in their own words, what value would make membership worth paying for. The themes are remarkably specific.
Concrete career outcomes
"Access to women leaders with potential for job / work opportunities."
"Personal growth and ecosystem creation."
"Concreate pathways to board seats and top executive roles."
Genuine peer experience and confidentiality
"Being able to have my space to share my challenges, being able to be vulnerable while being held with care and integrity."
"True experts, highly experienced individuals I would actually learn from."
Sponsorship in power networks
"Other women opening up their networks and willing to be advocates."
A space that integrates well-being
"Exclusive content, events, or retreats that support both professional growth and personal well-being."
The implication is clear. Membership justifies its price when it credibly delivers outcomes – boards, jobs, advancement in career, sponsorship, real connections – AND offers genuinely confidential peer space, and signals enough credibility for corporate sponsorship to be defensible.
– CONCLUSION
What this means for the next decade of women's leadership in Europe
The findings of this survey are consistent with the global research that has been published on women in senior leadership over the past two years. McKinsey and LeanIn's 2025 Women in the Workplace documents women's interest in promotion declining for the first time in eleven years; six in ten senior women reporting frequent burnout; sponsorship gaps that double the time-to-promotion for women relative to men.
The European Institute for Gender Equality's 2024 Gender Balance in Business and Finance brief documents that women hold 23.3% of executive positions and 37.2% of non-executive positions at the EU's largest listed companies. The June 2026 deadline of the EU Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive is now weeks away as this briefing goes to press; many members states will not meet it; the demand for board ready women in Europe has rarely been higher.
What this survey adds to that picture is what no other public research adds: the European senior women themselves, in their own words, naming what is missing.
What they name is peer advisory at their level. Curated senior connections. Board readiness as outcome, not theory. Sponsorship – including from senior male allies. Continuity. Concreteness. A European context. A community that produces something, together.
This is a different brief from the one the existing women's leadership was designed to answer. It is brief that requires building, not adapting.
If you read this and recognise yourself, or recognise someone you know, we would value a conversation.
– METHODOLOGY
How this research was conducted
SAMPLE
PERIOD
GEOGRPAHY
RECRUITMENT
RECRUITMENT
INSTRUMENT
CONFIDENTIALITY
LIMITATIONS
DISCLOSURE
150 Senior women leaders
Original survey – May - October 2025
16 Countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, UK (single responses from Europeans currently located in Israel, UAE, USA)
Distributed through the founder's professional network and through cascade referrals via senior women leaders in that network.
Distributed through the founder's professional network and through cascade referrals via senior women leaders in that network.
A single online questionnaire with a mix of closed-list (rating, multi-select) and open-ended questions. Approximately 18 substantive questions, plus demographic items.
All responses anonymised. Identifying information removed prior to analysis. Quotes are verbatim from open-ended responses; minor punctuation and translation edits where needed for clarity, with no change to substance.
This is a self-selected sample of senior women in the founder's extended network and their referrals. It is not a representative sample of all European senior women. The findings are best interpreted as a clear indicative signal – strong enough on size and consistency to warrant action – rather than as a generalisable population estimate. A larger and more geographically balanced second wave will be planned.
This briefing is authored by the founder of an organisation (Titan) being built to address the gaps it documents. The findings are reported faithfully and without alteration. Readers are encouraged to weigh both the data and the source.
If any of this resonates,
the conversation starts here.
Titan is a curated peer advisory ecosystem for women leaders in Europe. Twenty Founding Titans, by invitation. The format is hybrid by design. If you would like to be in conversation about Titan – as a potential founding member, as a sponsor, or as a thought partner – write to us.
TITAN
© 2026 Titan / Ashley Herndon . Shaping the Future of Women's Leadership in Europe: An Executive Briefing on What 121 Senior Women Across 16 European Countries Are Asking For. Share without restriction. All rights reserved.
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