And as the economy becomes increasingly globalized, it is only natural that businesses look beyond their borders for talent. However, women are still significantly absent from top leadership roles in the business world. According to data present on the internet, only 3 of 25 executives running the “World’s Largest Companies” come from the female population. Today, the tech industry is filled with women excelling as engineers, entrepreneurs, and even business owners. This comes on the heels of last month’s report that noted that women hold 27% of all the jobs in tech. But despite this seeming success, women are still lagging men when it comes to leadership roles.
Statistics reveal that just 5.4 percent of the women serving as CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies have been appointed in the last decade (from 2010 to 2020), an increase from 4.2 percent in the decade before that (1996-2010). In other words, as those numbers have hardly budged, it does not reflect a lack of qualified women available for top jobs. While there are some challenges to being a woman CEO, there are many misconceptions about the life of women leaders. The first misconception is that the highest-ranking women now have made it: the glass ceiling has been broken. This may be true in some sectors and for some people, but most of the women running Fortune 1000 companies have inherited their jobs from men who are no longer in those positions, or they are CEOs of divisions that used to be part of larger businesses. These circumstances do not guarantee equality among fellow companions.
Part of the problem is the glass ceiling that women are hit with at the point that they reach senior levels in their careers. These are the kind of positions where you can make a difference to other women who are aspiring to be leaders and encourage others to take up more senior positions. Women’s challenges also depend on their situations. It may be more difficult for a woman to have children, and if she does, to have them while rising through the executive ranks. In some companies, taking maternity leave can be fatal to a career. Many women are reluctant to adopt male-style leadership styles that seem better suited to reaching the C-suite. Still, more may run into obstacles in trying to overcome the kind of resistance that men often encounter in challenging established practices as they move up their success ladder. Women have the chance to be at the top, but they still face challenges related to a level of discrimination that most men could not even imagine.