Women in Leadership

Women in Leadership

With women representing 50% of our population, we examine why women are not proportionally represented in leadership roles and the issues they face. You’ll hear the phrase women in leadership a lot in 2023, and why is that? As a nation, we don’t exclude half of our citizens from being active members of society or restrict welfare opportunities to just 50% of the population. Still, half of our population is missing out on leadership opportunities because of their gender, and more needs to be done to change the narrative. And this is not a UK problem. Throughout the world, men occupy 65-95% of leadership roles. And because of societal beliefs or gender stereotypes and unconscious bias, leaders are typically male and masculine. Therefore when women become leaders, they have to a. Break the stereotype b. Prove themself as a leader Women have come a long way in the workplace, with many achieving high positions of power and influence. However, there is still much work to be done before we see equality between genders in terms of representation at all levels of business. The barriers facing women when it comes to their careers are many and varied, but some of the most common include the following: – Lack of confidence – Poor role models – Lack of support from management – Gender discrimination – Imposer syndrome What can women do to overcome barriers facing them in leadership? Although it’s not an issue for women only, it’s for all genders and primarily the company by which the women are employed. But women must combat some barriers by developing a positive mindset toward their career aspirations and progression at work. We encourage women to seek out female role models who can guide how to reach goals – and if a female role model is not available, a male role model understands the challenges women face at work. In addition, role models and mentors can guide you through difficulties that arise along the way. Finally, suppose women feel they are being discriminated against due to gender. In that case, they should call out the behaviour and speak up about this issue so that management teams or HR departments can address it. This will help ensure that all employees receive equal opportunities regardless of race or gender, resulting in better organizational diversity!

Workplace bias and workplace culture

The Women and Equalities Select Committee have identified several reasons for the lack of women in leadership, including unconscious bias and workplace culture. One major factor is unconscious bias. Many people have subconscious biases against women (including women in some circumstances), which can affect their perceptions and decisions regarding women vying for leadership positions. For example, a candidate who is perceived to be less qualified may be chosen over a more qualified woman because she is seen as less capable than her male counterpart. One way to combat this problem is through training programs that help people recognise and overcome their unconscious biases. Another issue facing women at work is workplace culture. There are still many companies that do not have policies designed to encourage gender equality or provide adequate support for pregnant mothers or new mothers who wish to return after having children—guidelines that would help increase female representation at all levels within an organisation. For example, during our Women in Engineering webinar, ‘bro culture’ was discussed as a potential reason why 40% of female engineers are not entering the profession after their degree or leaving in high numbers. If the culture is not supportive or realistic of working mothers, schedule then it will ultimately drive women away. Companies can experience incredible gains with relatively minor changes to senior teams when they focus on improving their women in leadership figures. The benefits of having more women in leadership include Improved financial performance De-risking the company (think fewer lawsuits) Improved corporate social responsibility Better environmental, social, and governance practices. In addition, women are less corrupt and more moral than men; women also bring diversity to boards, and firms with a higher proportion of women tend to invest more in innovation and be more innovative.

How Many Women are in Leadership Roles in the UK?

Women make up just 30% of leadership roles in the UK, a minimal increase since women in leadership began being tracked in 2011. Just over a fifth (21%) of FTSE 100 boards and 32% of FTSE 250 boards still needed to reach the Hampton-Alexander target of 33% women on their boards.

How many CEOs are women?

1 in 25 CEOs in Britain’s largest publicly listed companies are women, according to the latest FTSE 350 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. However, the report also highlights that 96% of CEOs are men. Three-quarters of the members of FTSE 350 executive committees are men, and a quarter is women. However, there were no women on the executive committees of 10% of the companies, and nearly 70% of companies have no female executive directors on their main boards of directors, according to an analysis conducted by The Pipeline. We know that women on the FTSE 100 boards are at an all-time high, but more female chairs, chief executives, and chief financial officers still need to be recruited and retained. Just eight of the CEOs in the top 100 UK companies were women. Why has it taken so long to improve the number of women CEOs? Carly Fiorina became the first female chief executive officer of a Fortune-20 company in 1999 and a year later became a chairman. Carly remained in this position until 2005 and, during her role, led the company’s reinvention through innovation and invention, reorganising it to be more agile and competitive. So, although it took until 1999 for us to see a woman in a CEO position, and while progress is being made, it has yet to come fast enough. With more people moving into higher education in the UK, gender-based anomalies remain. For example, although women are much more likely to go to university than men, complete their degree, and often achieve better results, figures show that women graduates relinquish their professional advantage in a matter of months. But why?

Gender Bias in early careers

Studies show that after graduation, men are more likely to be in ‘highly skilled’ employment with men’s graduate earnings, on average 10 percent higher than women’s within 15 months – even among non-male-dominated industries. The gender pay gap kick-starts the moment graduates leave university, according to figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) for the first time. They report that most 2018 graduates who gained their first degree and were in full-time paid UK employment earned between £24,000 and £27,000 a year. But on average, there were more men in the higher earning brackets. For example, 16% of women with a first degree earned more than £30,000 within 15 months, compared with 28% of men. In the highest bracket, men had double the representation: 6% of men earned more than £39,000 a year after graduation, compared with 3% of women.

Women in Leadership FTSE 100 Level

The UK now holds second place in international rankings for women’s representation on boards at FTSE 100 level, with nearly 40% of positions now held by women, compared with 12.5% ten years ago. This a significant improvement for the FTSE 100 level, but what about the millions of other companies?

Why we need Women in Leadership

The growing research suggests that diverse teams perform better and are more innovative. In addition, research by Harvard Business Review indicates that women demonstrate essential leadership qualities; on an individual basis, women ranked higher in nearly every category of leadership effectiveness, resulting in better performance overall. Research shows that companies with more female leaders are correlated with more significant share price gains, more substantial revenue growth, and higher profits.

Women in Leadership in Tech

Deloitte Global predicts that large global technology firms will reach nearly 33% overall female representation in their workforces in 2022, up slightly more than two percentage points from 2019. Although the shares of women in technical and leadership roles have tended to lag the overall proportion of women by 8‒10 percentage points, they are increasing the most rapidly.

Recruit more women

If you would like to recruit more women into your firm contact us today to discuss the packages available. View our jobs packages here. If you would like to pitch yourself or someone from your team to be a guest on the Jobs for Women podcast please click here.