Top 10 Skills for Women in the Workplace

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

These are the most in-demand skills for women seeking to elevate their careers.

[Featured image] Red text on a white background that reads "Women's History Month" with a photo of a person speaking to their team in a conference room.

Key takeaways

Skills like analytical and creative thinking, leadership, technological literacy, active listening, and curiosity are in demand, regardless of gender.

  • Women may find that certain fields or skill areas, such as leadership and management, and STEM fields like computer programming and data analytics, remain less represented by women.

  • Companies with a greater representation of women across all levels see accelerated progress. 

  • You can help mitigate the gender skills gap by developing your skills in areas such as communication, leadership, statistics, computer programming, business psychology, business analysis, data analysis, machine learning, and marketing. 

Learn more about women’s history in the workforce and explore 10 top skills important for career and personal growth. Ready to start building in-demand skills right now? Consider enrolling in the Microsoft Full-Stack Developer Professional Certificate to launch your career in full-stack development. You'll have the opportunity to develop job-ready AI-powered skills and earn a certificate from Microsoft in as little as nine months, no experience required.

Women in the workforce

In 1948, women made up 32.7 percent of the labor force [1]. During World War II and the 1960s feminist movement, women began to enter the workforce in great numbers to support their families. The number of women in the workforce continued to rise throughout the 1980s and 1990s, peaking at 60 percent in 1999 [1]. 

The global COVID-19 pandemic brought more changes to the workforce landscape, and it disproportionately impacted women. Some 13 million fewer women were employed in 2021 than in 2019, according to the International Labor Organization [2]. The number of employed men remained about the same. 

However, the future looks promising for women, thanks in part to increasing opportunities for women to acquire new digital job skills online. At Coursera, global enrollments for female learners increased from 38 percent to 46 percent between 2019 and 2025, with enrollments in high-demand fields such as GenAI reaching 30 percent [3]

What are 10 top skills for women?

Fifty percent or more of employers report that skills such as analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, agility, leadership, creative thinking, motivation, technological literacy, empathy, active listening, and curiosity are core to their workforce, regardless of gender [4]. These skills are embedded in many roles and can be honed by focusing on specific areas such as entrepreneurship, business psychology, machine learning, and marketing, to name a few. 

As the labor force has evolved over the past 75 years, women may find that certain fields or skill areas remain less represented by women. Consider some of these areas that may be particularly in need of more female expertise.

1. Communication

It is no secret that communication skills are among the most important for anyone, anywhere. Communication is the act of transferring information, ideas, and data from one group to another. Typically, communication involves talking, writing, listening, or reading, combined with more subtle variations, like reading body language and empathy.

In the workplace, these skills are a must to succeed in communications roles, but they are also necessary for building relationships with managers, colleagues, and customers across a range of industries.

Enhance your communication skills:

2. Leadership and management

Great leaders execute a collective vision and motivate individuals to put forth their best efforts for the benefit of the company, organization, or team. They manage conflict and make decisions on a daily basis. Excellent managers come with all types of personalities, backgrounds, and leadership styles. Leading with influence, rather than authority, is an important practical skill to learn.

As of 2025, women hold 30.6 percent of leadership positions globally [5]. There is plenty of opportunity to improve these numbers to equalize women in the workforce and bring their unique talents to the forefront.

Improve your leadership and management skills:

3. Probability and statistics

Probability is the determination of how likely an event will occur, or how likely something is true, while statistics involves the collection, interpretation, and analysis of data to solve problems. Both are important in careers that involve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Women have been systematically limited from STEM throughout their education, due to factors like gender stereotyping, fewer role models in popular culture, and limited encouragement toward STEM coursework in middle and high school, according to the American Association of University Women [6]. As of 2023, women comprise 26 percent of the labor force in STEM [7], creating a gender gap in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs, such as computer science and engineering. Fortunately, things are changing; at Coursera, women’s enrollment in STEM courses grew from 25 percent in 2019 to 34 percent in 2025 [3].

Start building your probability and statistics skills today: 

4. Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the act of creating value, usually by developing an idea into a successful business that provides a valuable service or product. As an entrepreneur, you take financial risks in the hope of generating profit. To do this, you need to know how to design, organize, and manage new enterprises through the stages of launch, growth, financing, and profitability.

Women owned 14 million, or 39 percent, of the 35.7 million US businesses in 2022, according to the Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey [8]. This statistic indicates ample opportunity and a need for female entrepreneurs.

Learn entrepreneurial skills to launch your business:

5. Computer programming

Computer programming skills are in high demand as work becomes increasingly automated. Programmers write code that instructs how computers, apps, and software programs perform. It involves analyzing, generating, and implementing algorithms. 

Like many other STEM careers, in recent history, women have been discouraged from this type of work. Women hold only 24 percent of computer science roles [7]. Now, more than ever, women are pursuing computer programming skills to enhance their careers.

Level up your computer programming skills:

6. Business psychology

Business psychology, or industrial-organizational psychology, combines human psychology with practical business applications to improve productivity, work environment, and organization. Learning business psychology is beneficial in developing strong networks and relationships that can help you get jobs and build harmonious teams and communities. These skills are important in nearly every facet of society, including businesses, startups, hospitals, nonprofits, and governments.

Companies with a greater representation of women across all levels see accelerated progress, making female business leaders critical to success in any sector and industry.

Boost your business psychology skills:

What skill is most in demand in today's workplace?

Analytical thinking continues to be the most valued skill among employers, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 [4]. Being able to adapt and lead with confidence rounds out the top three. Together, these rankings highlight how important it is to combine sharp thinking with flexibility, agility, and interpersonal skills in today's fast-changing work environment.

7. Business analysis

Business analysis is a way of identifying business needs and solutions. That might include organizational changes, strategic planning, policy development, and improvements to processes, systems, and tools.

Business analysts play an integral role in making data-driven decisions based on research and strategic thinking. You will need to present your findings and recommendations to management and other key stakeholders in roles that require business analysis.

Sharpen your business analysis with:

8. Data analysis

Data analysis involves gathering, cleaning, analyzing, visualizing, and presenting data to inform business decisions. As a data analyst, you leverage data to solve problems and help stakeholders navigate the best plan of action.

Big data is shaping the future economy, and as such, individual human experiences. It is important that women are represented. Today, approximately 20.4 percent of data scientists are women, indicating a significant gender gap that needs to be addressed [9]. Learning data analysis can lead to a high-demand, high-impact career.

Dive into data analysis:

9. Machine learning

Machine learning is the study and creation of computer algorithms that improve through experience and data usage. Considered part of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning comprises skills like programming and analysis that help companies like Spotify and Netflix determine your music and movie preferences over time to offer personalized recommendations.

The field of AI, which encompasses both machine and deep learning, is completely reshaping society, but women make up only 29.4 percent of AI engineering skill-listers on LinkedIn [9]. There is a huge opportunity for women to thrive in this emerging and in-demand industry.

Get familiar with machine learning:

10. Marketing

Marketing involves research, analysis, and using psychology to understand your customers to get them interested in your product, service, or brand. Marketing can include modern methods, such as influencer marketing, social media, digital marketing, and search engine optimization, as well as traditional methods, like print media advertising, billboards, and television commercials. 

Women account for a significant portion of purchasing decisions, which suggests companies benefit from including female perspectives on their teams.

Read more: Marketing Analytics: What It Is, Why It’s Important, and More

Elevate your marketing skills:

Explore free skill-building resources

Eager to grow your expertise? Keep up with the latest trends and in-demand skills in your industry by subscribing to our LinkedIn newsletter, Career Chat Or, check out these additional free resources:

Whether you want to develop a new skill, get comfortable with an in-demand technology, or advance your abilities, keep growing with a Coursera Plus subscription. You’ll get access to over 10,000 flexible courses. 

Article sources

1. 

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/about/history." Accessed January 2, 2026.

Updated on
Written by:

Editorial Team

Coursera’s editorial team is comprised of highly experienced professional editors, writers, and fact...

This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.