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Women make up a large share of the global workforce, yet their representation falls sharply at senior levels.
LinkedIn reported in 2026 that women made up 44% of the global workforce but only 31% of roles at VP level and above.
McKinsey's 2025 workplace research also found women held 29% of C suite roles in its dataset.
EdTech should not assume that being a purpose led sector automatically solves the problem.
A lot of candidate exclusion happens before sourcing begins.
Look at the role.
Is every requirement genuinely essential?
Does the job combine three senior positions into one?
Does the person need to have done the exact title before, or do they need evidence of the outcomes?
Is extensive travel really required?
Is office attendance tied to the work or simply to habit?
A narrower set of real requirements gives you a larger and more relevant pool.
Salary transparency removes unnecessary guessing.
It helps candidates decide whether a role is worth their time and makes it harder for inconsistent negotiation to shape pay.
For senior commercial roles, be clear about base salary, variable pay, equity where relevant and how targets are set.
Do not wait until the final stage to reveal the package.
Senior commercial work can involve customers, events and travel.
That does not mean every leader needs to be in an office on the same fixed pattern.
Say what the job actually requires.
If there are core customer days, travel expectations or leadership meetings, explain them.
Clear flexibility is more useful than saying flexible working and leaving candidates to guess what that means.
Leadership hiring often starts with who do we know?
That can reproduce the network you already have.
Direct search should deliberately look across different career paths, company types and adjacent sectors.
Former educators who have moved into commercial roles.
Customer Success leaders with revenue ownership.
Partnerships leaders.
SaaS sales managers ready for broader scope.
Women do not need a special lower bar.
They need access to the same serious consideration.
Decide what you will score before the interviews begin.
Commercial results.
Team leadership.
Forecasting.
Customer knowledge.
Strategy.
Coaching.
Whatever matters for the role.
Then ask candidates comparable questions and record evidence.
A structured process reduces the power of vague reactions such as executive presence or culture fit, which can mean different things to different interviewers.
Sales leadership needs conviction.
It does not require one personality type.
A candidate who gives a measured answer should not automatically be scored below someone who speaks with more certainty.
Ask what they did, what changed and what the evidence shows.
Confidence is useful.
Evidence is better.
Recruitment is only one part of representation.
Who gets sponsorship?
Who gets the visible accounts?
Who gets introduced to investors and partners?
Who is encouraged to take a bigger role before they feel completely ready?
What happens around parental leave and caring responsibilities?
A diverse shortlist cannot fix a leadership culture that only works for one type of career.
Track who enters the process, who reaches each stage, who receives an offer and who accepts.
If women are applying but disappearing at the same interview stage, investigate it.
If they are not entering the process at all, the problem is earlier.
Good intentions are hard to improve.
A funnel gives you something concrete.
At RecruitHer, our focus on diverse talent is not about presenting women as a separate category of candidate.
It is about removing avoidable barriers that stop strong people from being seen.
Clearer briefs.
Broader search.
Transparent packages.
Structured assessment.
And leadership environments where people can grow.
That is how EdTech companies build stronger commercial teams and widen who gets the chance to lead them.
Start with sharper role design, publish the package, explain flexibility clearly, search beyond the usual networks and use structured assessment based on evidence.
No. Recruitment is only one part of the problem. Sponsorship, visible opportunities, leadership culture, flexibility and support around caring responsibilities also affect who can progress and stay.
Track who enters the process, who reaches each stage, who receives an offer and who accepts. Patterns in where candidates drop out can show where the process needs attention.
Emilia Kruszewska is an EdTech recruiter and headhunter at RecruitHer, working with EdTech companies on commercial and leadership hiring.
