Women made up 55% of chief human resource officers in the top 1,000 companies based on revenue, a recent Korn Ferry study found. Coming in a distant second are chief marketing officers where woman represented 29%, while women chief executive officers make up a paltry 5%. On average, women made up 24% of C-Suite heads. 

“In our research, we find that women rank higher on key competencies needed in the CHRO role such as collaboration and negotiation skills, the ability to balance multiple constituencies and an appreciation for the dynamics of the overall business,” said Joseph McCabe, Vice Chairman in Korn Ferry’s Global Human Resources Center of Expertise. But while there is “a distinct correlation between CEO and CHRO competencies…women are still not making it to the very top spot at the rate they should,” McCabe noted.

Women’s prominence in HR leadership is evidence of the big challenges they face in making gains in other C-Suite roles, said Rita McGrath, associate professor of management at Columbia Business School and co-director of the Women in Leadership programme. Women need to pursue more line management positions, instead of so-called “female-only ghettos,” such as HR and legal roles, she noted, according to a recent article in The Economist.

Changing demographics that will see more millennials take the place of Baby Boomers and the importance that millennials place on firms that are people-focused bodes well for women to make more gains in different C-Suite roles, she said.

While women in HR leadership may find it hard to break into other C-suite leadership roles, many report being happy, writes Georgene Huang, in Forbes. She is the CEO and co-founder of Fairygodboss, an online career and job community site for women.

“Because there are more women senior leaders in HR, junior employees have more role models and may therefore also be able to work more flexibly than in other departments,” Huang writes. But having a supportive department where women are the top leadership doesn’t necessarily erase the ‘boy’s club’ culture across a company, she noted.

One woman posting to Huang’s site noted how “empowering” it is to work for an HR department that is 80% female. “However, outside of HR, the rest of the company is male-dominated, particularly in executive leadership and it not very diverse,” the woman writes.

Firms need to make gender equality a top and long-term priority, said Melissa Lamson, CEO of Chicago-based Lamson Consulting, according to a recent article from Workforce. “The absolute most critical move an organization can make is to declare gender parity a core value, make sure it’s reinforced from the most powerful staff member down to the newest entry-level employee,” Lamson said.

But gender parity alone won’t result in meaningful gains if leadership does not place as great an emphasis on skills development, she said. Women need opportunities to demonstrate leadership skill roles beyond HR or they will continue to face hurdles. “A common barrier of female advancement to the top spot continues to be a lack of critical opportunities to demonstrate leadership, such as international assignments and operational roles,” said Bryan Proctor, global financial officer practice leader at Korn Ferry.