The State of Women in Leadership: Room for Improvement
We often hear about the business benefits of women in leadership roles. That isn’t just wishful thinking. Extensive research confirms the advantages of gender diversity in management teams. For example, companies with a higher proportion of women in senior positions are more profitable and provide higher-quality customer experiences. Yet, women leaders are still not as prevalent as you may think.
For example, at S&P 100 companies, only 28% of top executives are women. But even when women are well-represented, their positions are far less powerful and influential. According to a Harvard study, women typically occupy two C-level roles — Chief Human Resources Officer (67%) and Chief Marketing Officer (47%).
However, we have seen progress. By 2023, the share of women CEOs at Fortune 500 companies reached an all-time high of 11% (53 women). Still, after decades of effort, that’s nowhere close to equal footing. Executive teams may be aware of this disparity, but that’s not enough. Unless organizations take proactive steps to improve, the gender gap will persist.
How to Pave the Way for More Women in Leadership
It’s vital for all of us (not just women) to support and uplift one another. Organizations work best when everyone contributes to shared goals. For women to believe the boardroom is within reach, a level playing field is imperative. Everybody needs to feel they have equal access to opportunities for career growth and advancement.
As a female executive, I have lived this journey. Sometimes the ride has been bumpy. I’ve been overlooked, underestimated, supported, uplifted, brought into executive meetings, and talked down to. But I persisted. And hopefully, I helped other women along the way.
For many years, I thought being one of the only women in the room was a badge of honor. It took me too long to catch on, but now I realize I was fighting the wrong fight. Instead, I should have been challenging why others weren’t there with me.
5 Ways to Elevate Women in Leadership
To help others move the meter, I’d like to suggest five key ways we can foster a more inclusive, equitable path to senior management for women and other under-represented groups:
1. Mentoring and Sponsorship
Two highly effective ways to empower aspiring women leaders are through mentorship and sponsorship. Mentoring is about sharing knowledge and advice to guide an individual’s professional development. Sponsorship, on the other hand, involves advocating for someone’s career advancement and connecting them with growth opportunities.
Research consistently confirms the impact of mentoring on career advancement. For example, 97% of mentees told Sage that these relationships are valuable for their career. And according to Gartner, employees with mentors are promoted 5x more often than others, on average.
Similarly, sponsorship can have a significant impact on a woman’s career trajectory. In fact, according to Lean In, women with sponsors are 20% more likely to be promoted.
A mentor may also act as a sponsor, but not necessarily. In fact, it can be helpful to develop relationships with more than one mentor or sponsor. A team can offer broader perspectives and experiences. What’s more, some mentors may focus on specific goals, such as balancing new parenthood with a career or entering the boardroom for the first time.
I’ve found that mentoring is an extremely powerful tool for career growth, because it lets you learn from people who have failed, but ultimately succeeded. Instead of making the same mistakes, you can leapfrog by understanding the lessons they’ve already learned.
For access to more diverse perspectives and experiences, seek out both male and female mentors and sponsors. My mentors have been varied. Some have worked in the same organization. Others are in the same industry or have worked in roles I have targeted. The key is for participants on both sides of the relationship to be intentional and committed.
2. Give Women a Voice in Decision-Making Forums
A simple yet effective way to support women in leadership is by ensuring that their voices are heard in crucial decision-making forums. This can help them grow, while improving your company’s performance, at the same time. How so?
A Catalyst study found that financial performance is stronger in companies with more women in decision-making roles. Let’s unpack this. Imagine a more diverse team is making business-critical decisions about your product, marketing, sales, operations, workforce, and so forth. This means they’re more likely to represent the interests of your potential customers.
Certainly, it means your workplace is more inclusive. But also, because your process involves a wider range of lived experiences, it means your team will be more in-tune with various market needs.
So, inviting women and others from underrepresented groups to strategic planning meetings is a smart move. Learn from their perspectives. Diversity of thought can make your organization and your offering stronger. In fact, it is linked to greater innovation and market growth.
Likewise, if someone cannot attend a meeting with you, act as their voice. Don’t take credit for their work or ideas. Attribute success to the person who deserves it. Underhanded techniques can come back to haunt you in the long run. This kind of behavior erodes trust and creates a toxic mono-culture that can damage employee engagement, retention, and performance.
3. Coach for Skills Development
Research says women tend not to apply for new roles — especially promotions — unless they’re 100% qualified. On the other hand, men are likely to apply for a job they want, even if they meet only 60% of the qualifications. How can we close this gender gap?
Continuous learning is essential for success in the future of work. And targeted skills development is especially important to prepare more women for leadership at all levels. For example, women need to focus on leadership skills like team management, strategic thinking, empathetic communication, and how to motivate others. By building these skills — and continuously deepening existing capabilities — women will be ready to step into roles with greater responsibility.
Allies can encourage female colleagues to seek out professional development opportunities, workshops and training programs. Sponsors can connect women to relevant learning and career advancement opportunities. And coaches can work directly with women to understand their career goals, values, skills, and what they need to do to move forward.
Employers play a crucial role in creating the right environment and resources to encourage upskilling. Build a culture that supports and rewards peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, mentoring, and coaching. Equip managers with coaching skills so they can conduct effective 1-1 discussions with their direct reports.
You might want to establish a community to facilitate mentoring and sponsorship discussions among women in the workforce. Verizon, for instance, created the Women’s CoLab as a space to share knowledge and develop skills in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investing in upskilling tools can help women develop necessary skills and validate their competency. This, in turn, can build the confidence needed for next-level career growth. For example, skills challenges and other assessments can validate a female employee’s readiness for a higher position. This provides useful insight for hiring managers as well as the employee.
4. Ensure Equal Pay
Addressing the gender pay gap is a fundamental step towards workplace equality. Today, on average, women take home only 84 cents for every dollar earned by a man. And the World Economic Forum estimates that, at the current pace of progress, we’ll close the global gender pay gap in two more centuries. Do women deserve to wait 200 more years?
At our core, many of us would agree that this isn’t fair. Yet, it is still the case. The only way we can change is through transparency and a genuine commitment from employers to tackle hard discussions about fair pay and income parity.
Likewise, women need to feel empowered to negotiate salaries and promotions. This can feel much easier to do when we’re backed by evidence of our potential — for example with reports that underscore recent project successes, metrics tied to specific business impact, and job-ready skills.
5. Challenge the Status Quo
When people aren’t satisfied with today’s standards, it opens the door to innovation. Whitney Wolfe Herd challenged the norm for online dating back in 2014 when she founded Bumble. Her vision was to empower women and build healthier romantic relationships. It led her to become the youngest woman ever to take a U.S. company public.
Bumble’s workplace includes quiet spaces for meditation, prayer, or breastfeeding; along with a “glam” room, a personal learning budget, a wellness budget, unlimited time off, and fertility care. This appeals to Bumble’s majority-female workforce. It also shows how benefits, culture, and work spaces can combine to create a truly supportive environment for employees.
We all have a responsibility to challenge outdated norms and advocate for a more inclusive work culture. No matter where we work, each day, we can champion and recognize others, initiate open conversations about unconscious biases, and try to dismantle systemic barriers.
Are You Ready to Build a Future With Women in Leadership?
By taking these steps on a day-by-day basis, every organization can bridge the leadership gender gap. Collectively, these changes will also help build a healthier, more productive workplace for all. As a result, more employees will feel that they matter, their work matters, and they’ll perform better.
So, why wait any longer? The time for change is now. Through a commitment to continuous learning in all its forms, we can pave the way for a future where more women flourish in leadership roles. And ultimately, more organizations will thrive, as well.
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