A recent investigation by WWD found that although women are increasingly occupying middle and higher management roles in the beauty industry, wage gaps and gender equality at the highest levels still remain a problem.

While we’ve recently seen a number of incredibly successful and disruptive brands being founded and run by women – Charlotte Tilbury, Glossier, Fenty, Kylie Cosmetics – within the larger, more established heritage companies, women are still not getting the top roles, and when they do their pay isn’t matching that of their male counterparts.

“In beauty, you do have more women in leadership positions up until the vice president level and president level,” Jill Scalamandre, president of Shiseido’s global make-up centre of excellence and president of global marketing for BareMinerals and Buxom, told WWD. “The big gap is when you go into the [chief executive officer] level.”

WWD's report, based on filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, found that of the top 20 beauty manufacturers, only Revlon is led by a female CEO, Debbie Perelman who was promoted to the top role in May this year. Salary inequality is also an issue. Sylvie Moreau, for example, one of three division heads of Coty Inc, is paid less than the two male division heads, and only 30 percent of the executive committee at Coty is female. While over at Estée Lauder Companies, Tracey Travis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has a base salary lower than that of any male director at the business.

The discrepancies should not be excused, but one reason given for the pay gap between male and females in c-suite roles is that women are often less comfortable asking for promotions and making clear their ambitions. “At some point, I became clear that unless I specifically asked and made my ambition of becoming a General Manager explicit, this would not happen,” Sylvie Moreau told WWD. Similarly, Carol Hamilton, group president of acquisitions at L’Oréal USA, said she had been passed over for roles until she was told she has to make it explicit that she was interested in being considered: “I said, ‘Oh - I didn’t realise I needed to ask for the job.’”

Since then, Hamilton says, she realised that in order to really change gender inequality much deeper work needed to be done. Under her guidance, L’Oreal have partnered with Harvard’s Women in Power program to train their female employees on skills such as negotiation and asking for raises. The program also includes the male staff, as Hamilton says it’s important for them to be aware of the issues surrounding the gender gap. “What needs to really shift now is that any discussion of gender equality must be coed. Women have to be the catalyst and deeply present, but it’s as important for men to understand it so they can change behavior.”