McKinsey has long been one of the most powerful engines of leadership development, with 18 alumni now running Fortune 500 companies. Yet of the 55 women who hold Fortune 500 CEO jobs, only three—Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Joey Wat of Yum China, and Gunjan Kedia of U.S. Bancorp—came through the firm.

The gender disparity is striking. McKinsey recruits men and women in near-equal numbers at the entry level and frequently touts the business case for gender diversity. Still, its celebrated “CEO factory” produces female chiefs at about the same rate as corporate America at large, where women account for roughly 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs.

The drop-off reflects forces that extend far beyond a single consultancy. McKinsey is a powerful node in a corporate system that has yet to see women as the inevitable choice for the corner office. Many Fortune and Global 500 companies that hire their alums are in industries such as energy, industrials, and financial services, where women remain underrepresented at the top. Even when female consultants leave with the same credentials as their male peers, those fields offer fewer pathways to CEO.

Across sectors, women are underrepresented in senior operating jobs—the classic springboard to the top role. Boards and investors continue to favor candidates who fit the historic mold: long tenure in P&L roles, geographic mobility, and uninterrupted career trajectories. Those criteria systematically advantage men and make it harder for women, even when equally qualified, to break through to the CEO track.

Liz Hilton Segel, now a senior partner at McKinsey, was made a partner while on maternity leave. However, in old photographs of McKinsey leadership, she is frequently the lone woman among rows of men in suits, her presence marked not by title or achievement, but by her attire: the sole consultant in a dress. The image highlights how rare it was for women to rise into the firm’s senior ranks at the time, thereby narrowing the female CEO pipeline.

Fraser is one of the exceptions. She credits McKinsey with shaping her leadership style and points to the unusually supportive cohort of women she encountered during her time in the London office, most of whom had U.S. ties. “McKinsey in the U.S. was one of the great incubators of strong female leaders,” she said, adding that the female partners ahead of her were visible, relatable, and inspiring rather than intimidating. “It was great to be in an environment where there were fantastic, real women who you aspired to be like, rather than who scared you to death,” she told me.

McKinsey is not solely to blame for the gap, but as one of the most influential training grounds in business, its numbers matter. The firm states that it has made progress: women now comprise half of its global workforce and hold 30% of leadership roles. Of the 56 partners promoted this year, six were women, and the number of senior female partners has increased by 60% in four years. The gains are meaningful, but the reality remains that few female McKinsey alumni have reached the top job. It’s a reflection of systemic barriers across corporate leadership pipelines, as much as of the consulting industry itself.

Read my full story on McKinsey’s CEO pipeline here.

Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com

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