by Margie Warrell  

Is There A Problem?

Yes, there’s a problem:  Why aren’t we seeing more women at the top?

Women graduate from college at a rate of 3 to 2 over men and make up almost half of our workforce.  They (we!) also make great leaders. Women bring strengths and perspectives that complement men and improve the outcomes of the decisions being made. We are naturally perceptive, empathetic and collaborative. Yet look at the number of women who’ve ascended to the top rung of the corporate ladder in the Fortune 500 corporations and you will quickly see that, despite all the progress of the last fifty years, women still have a long way to go.  Women sit at the helm in only 12 Fortune 500 companies (down from 15 just a year ago) but even more unsettling is that one-quarter of those corporations do not have any women on their boards. Notta one!

This is not only disconcerting for many women (and many men too); it’s also bad for business.  Numerous research studies, including one by McKinsey (“A Business Case for Women”), have found that having more women seated at the decision-making tables improves bottom-line profitability. More women in senior leadership roles isn’t just beneficial for women, it’s good for the men in our lives as well.

So What’s the Cause?

There are myriad complex and intertwining reasons put forward to explain why so few women are making it into senior leadership roles. A leading one is that during the period of life (5-15 years post college) when men are earning their leadership stripes, many women are having children. And while a growing number of women choose to continue pursuing their career, many others elect to opt out of the demanding kids-clients-career juggling act.  There is nothing inherently right or wrong in either choice. At least women now have a choice to make.

Barriers Beyond Babies?

Beyond life-style choices, there are still other barriers limiting the ascendance of women up the leadership ranks to c-suite positions. A Wall Street Journal Task Force highlighted some  earlier this year. Where men are promoted on potential, women are promoted on performance. Where men have many role models to look up to, women have very few. And where men are often put into roles with P&L responsibilities early on in their careers, women are more likely to be moved into support roles like HR. And of course, while there’s been significant effort made by many companies to provide more family-friendly facilities and options, women in leadership roles must still deal with a lack of flexibility in managing the often conflicting demands of career and child raising.

Women’s Self-Imposed Barriers?