When we last asked women what was holding them back at work, two themes were clear: too many women are feeling invisible in the workplace and their paths to promotion are unclear.
Our previous research found that 43 per cent of women identified unclear career options as a key barrier to their next promotion, while nearly a third felt their lack of visibility was getting in the way.
In 2026, Women’s Agenda is teaming up with Cultivate Sponsorship again to launch a new national survey exploring what’s limiting women’s career progression, and to go deeper into the solutions that could help.
This time around, we’re drilling down on how invisibility at work shows up for different women, especially the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
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Take our 5-minute 2026 workplace visibility survey here. We’d love to hear from you.
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We know that barriers to career progression are often layered, with diverse women facing several hurdles that make advancement at work more challenging. Indeed 18 per cent of women previously told us that discrimination of some form had been a hurdle to promotion in their workplace.
“Invisibility isn’t experienced equally,” Katriina Tähkä, Managing Director of Cultivate Sponsorship, says.
“If we treat women as one group, we miss the truth. Understanding intersectionality reveals how visibility, opportunity and progression are shaped differently.
‘This research brings those realities into the light so change can finally be targeted and real. At Cultivate, our research and programs are designed to make those hidden barriers visible and actionable.”
Caring responsibilities (26 per cent) and a lack of flexible work options (21 per cent) were also common hurdles for women. For women from diverse backgrounds, these challenges frequently compound.
What are the solutions to better support women?
What’s clear from our previous research is that many women in Australian workplaces have ambitious career goals and aspire to secure promotions for their future.
But their pathways towards reaching these ambitions are filled with hurdles and a lack of support in workplaces.
Nearly two thirds of women said their current or most recent employer isn’t doing enough to mentor or sponsor them.
“The two statistics that really hit hard in the last report were that more than a third of women said that they feel invisible in the workplace and that lack of visibility is a significant barrier to progression; and that 64 per cent of women voice their ambitions first to their friends outside of work compared to only 48 per cent who tell their immediate manager,” Tähkä says.
“Why do women not feel seen and confident to be heard at work? Women do not lack capability – but they do lack visibility in the workplace.
“And that invisibility is creating a barrier to their career progression and full potential.”
Employers have a responsibility to ensure women from all backgrounds can access career support when they need it. Our 2026 survey will explore whether that is happening, or whether women feel like employers have pulled back on initiatives that are designed to support them.
If you’re a woman working in Australia, we want to hear from you.
Your responses (which stay anonymous) will help us understand what women need from their employers, and will help inform the national conversation about what workplaces must do differently.
Take our 5-minute 2026 workplace visibility survey here.