Why are there so few WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLES and what can we do about it?

In most developed countries there are more women than men graduating college and, across the world, there are more women with university educations than ever before. There are fewer barriers to women entering male dominated industries than before and more young women joining professions that were previously closed to them. Yet, according to the annual Women in Leadership study (sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation), women hold only 6% of CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies.  Globally it is reported that women hold less than a quarter (24%) of senior roles and one third (33%) of global businesses have no women in senior management roles at all (Grant Thornton research Women in Business 2016).

 Paradoxically, there is little dispute that today’s women are talented, well educated, and just as hard working as their male counterparts. So what happens within the workplace? Why don’t they make it to the top? About 20 years ago I read a seminal book “When Work Doesn't Work Anymore” by Elizabeth Perle McKenna that explores women's relationship with work.  It saddens me to realise that two decades later we are still having the same discussions. The book exposed the inherent conflict between the conventional workplace and what women desire and value in their own lives and suggested that, going forward, working women needed to redefine success on their terms. The author posited that the patriarchal work culture (developed and maintained by men) created an inherent imbalance for working women “a happy mix of personal and professional, spiritual and material eludes them”.  She challenged the myth of ‘having it all’ and theorised that a life out of balance is never a path to success.  

This book inspired me. I was approaching 40 when I read it and there was much I could relate to.  It mirrored my own path through corporate life and reflected the dissatisfaction that had caused me to become increasingly less fulfilled and more exhausted in my job. I was divorced, a single mother.  I had only very recently quit my secure board level job in a multinational and set up in competition. McKenna’s book validated my ‘rebellion’ and gave me the confidence to move forward. I was able to determine there was nothing wrong with wanting it all and build a successful business that gave me success on my own terms. 

In my generation (the baby boomers), many smart, successful women eventually tired of trying to "fit in" with a culture that did not share her values or respond to her needs and opted out of formal corporate structures.  This doesn’t mean she “went back to the kitchen”.  Like me, many actively sought ways to re-balance their life by taking more control.  But this mass retreat from corporate and public structures by women in mid-career has inevitably resulted in a shortage of women at the top which is particularly unfortunate because research also shows that gender diversity in leadership improves the organisation and the bottom-line.

As I said, it saddens me to recognise how little has changed within our work culture over the past 20 years despite the higher number of women in management. If we are ever to achieve gender diversity in the Board Room, we need to acknowledge and confront the role of unconscious bias in the workplace. Studies confirm that ideas of what constitutes leadership are essentially masculine.  It is still a challenge for an ambitious woman to gain respect and acceptance among peers. As any successful women knows, women meet more resistance and more isolation as they move up the ranks. 

I strongly believe there is nothing wrong with today's ambitious women.  On the contrary they are even better prepared for leadership than their forebearers.  But there is still something wrong with today's work culture and smart, talented women continue to leave corporate life mid-career. Fortunately, they are not (as some claim) giving up work but, like me, are finding their own way to balance the demands of their life.  I see this evidenced in the statistics for women owned start-ups and ‘home’ businesses. Globally 163m women started a business between 2014 and 2016 (2016 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor).

Perhaps in time these businesses will grow into women friendly Fortune 500 companies. But how can we, as women, improve things now? Gender parity in the workplace will continue to be a pipe dream unless we complement desire with action. Mentorship is a great place to start. Both formal and informal mentorship is a critical component of success and one that men have always taken advantage of. According to research published by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, 80% of CEOs have had a mentor. In America, the Small Business Administration quotes “70% of businesses that have been mentored stay in business over 5 years”.

Mentors provide insight and knowledge not found in books; they have often walked the same path as their mentees. They can open networks which lead to opportunities that would not be available without their influence.  Most importantly for women, and as with my experience of reading “When Work Doesn’t Work Anymore”, they can instill confidence and help relieve feelings of isolation that grow as women progress in leadership. 

To feel comfortable and thrive in the workplace, women need a more feminised work culture. According to conventional wisdom, women are better at the soft skills of communicating, teamwork, making colleagues feel appreciated, handing out positive feedback and inspiring others. So, let us use this to our advantage and ensure young women in the workplace (and the entrepreneurs amongst us) have easy access to quality mentors. This is one way for us to make a difference. Can you think of other things we can do now?