Key Takeaways:
1. Best strategies for encouraging and retaining women in leadership start with a change in leadership thinking and approach.
2. Companies that build up a leadership team including women benefit from improved morale, innovative solutions, and a better image
3. It is important to recognize the challenges women leaders face and mitigate them through simple, effective steps.
As compared to a few decades ago, women being part of the workforce has become the norm. However, while this has been viewed as a positive change, there is a noted lack of women in leadership. According to our DEIB report, ‘Despite women making up 26% of the workforce (a figure unchanged for three years), their representation sharply declines at each managerial level. The “broken rung” phenomenon persists, with only 8% of CEOs being women. Career interruptions post-maternity, lack of flexible work models, and unclear promotion pathways contribute to attrition and stagnation.”
At Great Place to Work®, we help companies evaluate women’s representation in leadership, how existing employees feel about the current situation, and advise them on how to improve the workplace. This article will delve into the challenges, benefits, and strategies to help women in leadership thrive at work.
What Does Women in Leadership Entail?
Women have been part of the workforce since the 1900s and part of the corporate world for over the past five decades. However, the one factor that stands out is that even today, women are not a huge part of leadership. This statistic shows this clearly: ‘In 2025, 21% of women have not had the experience of leadership development opportunities.’
Women in leadership are women holding higher positions on the corporate ladder, with immense decision-making power, influence over the company’s direction, and responsibility for leading significant aspects of the business.
Women in leadership, in most companies, will include:
- Being part of the executive leadership team of the company
- Having a voice on the board of directors regarding the company’s strategy
- Leading teams and managing several aspects of their work and responsibilities
- C-suite executives who head a particular aspect of the company’s operations
- Heading the company as a managing director or chief executive officer
Women in leadership make it easier for other women to join the ranks of leadership, enabling a diverse workforce to create a force that moves the organization in the right direction.
Why Is It Critical for Women to Become Part of the Leadership?
A study of a well-functioning and highly productive work environment will show that these outcomes result from balance, open communication, and a positive approach. Women and other under-represented groups in the workplace and in leadership are part of ensuring all the above-mentioned factors. Here are the benefits of women in leadership:
- Women bring an emotional intelligence angle to decision-making through balance
- Organizations gain a different and broader point of view
- The culture and outlook of the organization become more diverse
- It helps structure the benefits offered by the organization in a better way
- Businesses are better able to understand and serve customers
- Builds a better image of the business among all stakeholders
- Increased productivity and improved customer satisfaction positively impact the bottom line
Challenges Women Face in Leadership Roles and Strategies to Overcome Them
When women take on leadership roles, they face more challenges than their male counterparts. This can be due to societal, familial, and corporate pressures on them. Let’s look at some of the challenges.
Challenge #1: Stereotyping and Gender Bias
Often, women face a lot of gender bias from peers and leadership, which even they may not be aware of. There’s a lot of stereotyping around the kind of roles women can play and the skills they have.
Some examples include:
- Assuming that women may not want to work on jobs that require manual skills or site visits where they have to be actively involved in physical tasks.
- Building a narrative where women use emotions for decision-making rather than logic and statistics.
- Viewing women as the weaker gender, not possessing the ‘killer instinct’ attributed to men who lead teams.
- Women lacking mechanical skills like repairing cars or working with software coding, making them incapable of leading in such roles
- Women leaders being uncomfortable leading a team of ambitious and aggressive men with a firm hand.
- Leadership assuming that women may not be ambitious because of the mother-wife roles they play along with their careers.
- Hormonal changes which are part of the woman’s life affecting their ability to work consistently and productively.
Strategy # 1: Train Leadership to Overcome Bias
Any change in the company’s outlook, culture, and overall attitude starts with the leadership team’s visible acceptance of these qualities. For the organization to overcome unconscious bias and the stereotyping of women, leadership teams must be trained. When leadership demonstrates a gender-neutral, merit-centric approach to work, this attitude permeates the rest of the organization.
Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:
- Create and implement training programs that help people overcome their biases against women and other under-represented factions.
- Make it clear that any biases or gender-offensive attitudes will be dealt with strictly and will not be tolerated at any level.
- Provide mechanisms that enable women to record, report, and request support when they face such biases.
- Design recruitment processes to eliminate unconscious bias and standardize performance evaluations to avoid personal bias.
Challenge # 2: Restricted Access to Leadership Roles
Today, most companies welcome women into their ranks with open arms; however, not into leadership teams. It is often assumed that women will take career breaks to fulfill their personal commitments, which, in turn, makes them unsuitable for leadership roles. Another assumption is that women may not want to step into roles that require more responsibility.
Some examples include:
- When companies consider potential leadership candidates, they focus mainly on service length, and women could show some gaps due to personal commitments
- Judging women by their leadership styles, as they may not always be the same as those of their male counterparts.
- Restricting women in leadership due to paucity of time they have for social and networking activities.
Strategy# 2: Create Women-Specific Tracks and Leadership Programs
It is a given that men and women think and act differently, which will also affect their leadership styles. However, to ensure that the company does not restrict women based on their working style, it is crucial to create women-specific tracks and programs.
Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:
- Help women candidates identify their strengths and train them to improve in areas where they lack, ensuring they have a well-rounded skill set and can take on leadership roles.
- Aggressively promote mentorship programs to prepare women for their leadership roles by providing overall support on technical and emotional skills.
- Encourage existing women leaders within and outside the company to address women employees.
- Offer support in the form of training programs, certifications, courses, and sponsored workshops to prepare women for leadership roles.
Challenge # 3: Interrupted Career Path Due to Personal Reasons
Biology and nature have assigned women to caregiving and reproductive roles, which results in career gaps. Many women have successfully managed both these responsibilities, but this has also hindered their growth in the company.
Some examples include:
- Women feel disoriented when they return from maternity leave due to changes in their roles and within the company.
- Some women have found themselves moved off the promotion track once they get married, on the assumption that their priorities have changed.
- Enable online meetings for important events, key client account handling, and crucial team events to keep the woman on leave updated on all changes and developments.
- Women with family responsibilities, such as caring for elderly parents or raising children, are often viewed as not suitable for leadership programs.
Strategy #3: Enable Mentorship and Input During Such Situations
Today, companies have become more understanding about supporting people, especially women as a whole, rather than only at a professional level. This strategy focuses on creating support systems and mentorship programs, and providing the right input to ensure that women on the leadership track move forward, no matter what.
Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:
- Talk to women leaders to understand how they overcame these challenges to stay on track for leadership roles.
- Create programs that support women when their personal responsibilities create gaps in their schedules. For example, create a one-on-one support person for women who are on maternity leave. This person can keep the woman updated on developments in their work, clients, and any company changes. Furthermore, this person can also act as a liaison between the woman and the team to keep the link going.
- Partner with childcare services to ensure the woman leader can focus on work without worrying about missing any child-related issues.
- The Human Resources department can provide a forum for women with varied family commitments to seek guidance and support in difficult situations.
Challenge # 4: Women Needing to Balance Work and Personal Life
The world is evolving at a faster pace, and society’s outlook toward what women are responsible for has also changed. However, despite these changes, women still need to balance their personal and professional responsibilities. This could be due to societal pressures, specific skills that only women possess, and biological differences that confer traits men do not have.
Some examples include:
- Women have more child-centric responsibilities, especially in their early years, due to the need to nourish their children during the first two years.
- Since women are often considered skilled at multitasking, they are expected to take on more household responsibilities than their male counterparts.
- Even when roles are divided equally, women often take on more of the personal load due to their nature.
Strategy #4: Build a Flexible and Sustainable Hybrid Work Situation
Companies seeking to encourage more women to take on leadership roles can adopt a strategy of offering flexible hybrid work arrangements that also measure productivity objectively. With hybrid working models, women can continue to perform at their best without sacrificing any aspect of their professional or personal responsibilities.
Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:
- Identify all roles that can be performed without requiring employees to commute to the office and that support a viable hybrid work model.
- Empower these women with the right apps and tools to make communication with internal teams and external stakeholders easy and seamless.
- Enable them to create a professional, comfortable work setup at home to maintain a seamless experience when they interact with external parties.
- Set up mechanisms and establish metrics to measure performance without any bias and with complete transparency.
Challenge # 5: Self-Doubts and Imposter Syndrome
Historically, women have been placed in more subservient roles, and this has resulted in many women becoming victims of the ‘imposter syndrome’. When women doubt themselves, they often shy away from taking up leadership roles.
Some examples include:
- Women in leadership roles often feel they have the skills but lack the confidence to lead a team with the necessary authority.
- Women are often unable to express their opinions or offer input in a male-dominated setting due to a lack of authority.
- Colleagues often put down women for being emotional, leading them to doubt the logic and merit of their input.
Strategy #5: Offer Career Counseling and Support Services
For women on the leadership track, it is often not a lack of skills or aptitude but doubt and a lack of confidence that lead them to shy away from such opportunities. Companies seeking to encourage more women to take on leadership roles must adopt a strategy that helps them discover their potential.
Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:
- Build programs and support workshops to help women build their confidence and realize their complete potential.
- Highlight and share the achievements of women employees consistently, both within and outside the company.
- Offer courses on public speaking, mentoring, and discovering the power within to all those employees who show leadership potential.
- Identify leaders to mentor potential candidates in mentorship programs, helping them build confidence and learn new leadership skills.
Challenge #6: Limited Networking Opportunities
Traditionally, networking opportunities are restricted to clubs and night events where men meet and interact, resulting in an old-boys-club, which is a tight clique. Often, women either feel uncomfortable at such events or are unable to attend due to other commitments. In such cases, women miss out on crucial networking opportunities.
Some examples include:
- Night events in clubs and places where entry is traditionally men-only in certain areas, restricting women from entering.
- Hunting, shooting, golfing, or other such events where men discuss business while participating, where many women may feel out of place or even unwelcome.
- Networking events that require investing time beyond work hours, which may not work for many women due to their personal responsibilities.
Strategy #6: Build Professional Networking Events That Are Women-Friendly and Accessible
While it is true that many business deals occur in social settings, it is important to have a strategy to ensure women do not miss out on opportunities to network, increase visibility, and close deals. The strategy is simple: schedule business events around times that work for the entire leadership team, including women.
Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:
- Schedule events and meetings at times and places where women can also participate. For example, move the meeting to a hotel luncheon rather than a game night at a club.
- Form specific groups and forums where women can represent their skills. This can be at a board meeting or a client-based event where the celebrations occur only when business negotiations are concluded.
- Enable women to attend evening or night events by offering them the required support in terms of transportation, childcare, and accommodation as required.
How to Ensure the Growth of Women in Leadership Roles Going Forward?
The world is recognizing the need to recruit women actively, encourage their growth, and support their advancement into leadership roles. Having a well-balanced team with representation from all segments creates a positive and productive work environment. The starting point is to check the organization’s pulse through employee surveys.
Another great way to kickstart this is to talk to an expert about DEIB to assess the current position and move forward. Change must start at the leadership level and permeate to lower levels to ensure the proper implementation of any women-in-leadership initiatives. At Great Place To Work, our team of experts can guide the process and ensure tangible results. Click here to connect with us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it crucial to develop women in leadership roles?
Women bring a different perspective and skills to any role they take on. With women in leadership roles, the company will benefit from increased productivity and creative solutions. Having women in leadership also builds a better image of the company internally and externally.
What are the steps to take to encourage women to take leadership roles?
Companies can start by identifying women leaders among existing employees and offer them training and support to encourage them to take on leadership roles. Moreover, women-specific initiatives can support women across various phases of their personal and professional lives, helping them continue their career trajectories.
What programs can support women in leadership?
Programs such as young executive boards, mentorship, networking events, and targeted soft-skills training can help women discover and develop their innate leadership skills. Support facilities such as hybrid working, maternity leave support, and opportunities to interact with other women leaders can also help.
What issues do women in leadership face?
Women in leadership can face issues at both personal and professional levels. At the personal level, a need to focus on their family, having babies, travel limitations, etc., can be some of the issues. At the professional level, challenges can include male colleagues not accepting them, a lack of confidence and networking opportunities, and a poor understanding of their specific needs.
