What's Stopping Women From Getting To The Top

Despite all the change the workplace has faced over the last few years… not enough progress has been made when it comes to achieving gender parity.

The world of work has changed massively, especially since the pandemic. Businesses have completely restructured the way they work, hybrid and remote work has become the new norm for many and expectations have massively shifted… However, organisations need to be using this period of change to focus on inclusion and drive parity.

Not only is there far too few women at the top, in leadership and the most senior roles, but it’s also a struggle to retain those who manage to get there in the first place.

Many organisations are now moving forwards and looking at creating their ‘new normal’ as the dust finally settles after the pandemic but the future still remains uncertain. 

However, organisations now have a unique ability to write the next chapter and drive much needed change as we emerge with the lessons learnt over the last few years. 

Now is the time to change the structure and right the systemic wrongs that have long created inequalities for women at work. 

But to create gender parity for women in the workplace, organisations need to first understand the challenges that women are facing that are stopping them from progressing in business and getting to the most senior positions… to being on the board, to being in the meetings where the direction of the company and strategy is set.

These issues are not going to go away. They might feel uncomfortable, be challenging to talk about or bring up shame or judgement, but now is the time for change.

10 issues stopping women from getting to the top

1. Flexible working arrangements

Working flexibly is an issue for many women. Whether it’s due to being a caregiver, parent or another reason, without flexible work arrangements many impactful and influential women are given no choice but to leave the workplace.

Over the past few years, more and more organisations are realising how much of a benefit flexibility is - to both them and their workforce. It’s a way of attracting top talent and also a cost saving measure to reduce turnover, productivity, and absenteeism.

Organisations need to be open to the idea of flexibility and look at how they can introduce more flexible ways of working - for the benefit of both men and women. 

2. Equal Pay

It’s almost 2023 and women still make less than men for the same roles. 

• Women all over the world continue to face a huge pay gap that recent data shows will take 136 years to close at our current rate of progress. 
• The difference in salary between men and women at senior level can be up to one million pounds over their career.
• Women MBA graduates are paid up to $4,600 less than men in their first job after graduation.

This highlights a lack of transparency that is resulting in women being underpaid compared to their male colleagues. 

Job adverts still don’t always include salary expectations or details, so candidates just don't know what they’re applying for until they're already deep in the process. And then that raises the issue of starting the conversation around money or negotiation, which is often a situation in which women massively underestimate themselves.

Research shows only 41% of women are likely to negotiate their salary when moving roles, compared with 61% of men.

The same study found that while many candidates feel awkward talking about money, women are twice as likely as men to state they feel uncomfortable discussing salary with prospective employers.

There needs to be absolute pay transparency around salaries and bandings. Organisations need to be clear about where someone sits and how much room women have got to move up in the band.

3. Race and gender bias

Everyone has unconscious biases. They’re kind of like our framework for how we see the world.

You might not know they’re there, but they play out in your everyday life and come out in the way you speak, act and behave. 

Working women are faced with a unique set of biases, but women of colour are faced with extra challenges that transcends across race, ethnicity, gender and culture. They have to deal with even more daunting roadblocks, like people’s beliefs, attitudes and experiences.

Although these biases are unconscious, organisations need to be educating their people and talking about uncomfortable or difficult topics. Each of us — regardless of our race or gender — has a role to play.

It’s not about blame culture, judgement or shaming people, it’s about giving people new frameworks to live by.

Help people to understand what they’re biases might be, so then they can start to break them down and confront what isn’t acceptable. 

4. Access to ‘hot jobs’

Many women don’t have access to the same career-making roles as men. These roles, also known as ‘hot jobs’, are those roles with really high visibility. They are strategic, impactful, mission-critical and often are around international experiences. Without these jobs women are not reaching the highest levels of leadership.

The issue is that not all of these leadership opportunities are created equally. Today, these ‘hot jobs’ are not as available to women, and fewer and fewer are getting offered high visibility roles.

Organisations need to make a deliberate investment to help women colleagues reach ‘hot jobs’ and make sure everyone is aware of them.

5. Role models

There's still not enough female role models in the workplace…

Research shows that almost two-thirds of women reported a lack of senior or visibly successful female role models as a major obstacle to their career advancement.

And while women make up almost half of the US workforce, they make up less than 5% of CEOs.

This data reflects a huge drop off in terms of where women sit and the levels they reach in organisations. Women keep ending up trapped at this ‘broken rung’ and continue to lose ground at the first step up to manager.

To ensure women progress to the top, they need to see it’s possible. You can’t be what you can’t see after all. Organisations need to be intentional about encouraging role models, making sure women's stories are shared and that they are being supported to progress through the company.

For change to be made, women need to be at the top and on the exec team, the corporate board and in the CEO positions. They need to path the way, set a framework and show other women that they can do it too.

6. Sponsorship

Not enough leaders are sponsoring women and speaking up on their behalf to help them reach the top. 

For women to progress, they not only need support but they need other leaders to advocate for them. 

Having a person in authority or with high levels of influence can not only help mentor women but they can also give them visibility, talk about their accomplishments behind closed doors, and put their name forward for opportunities.

Creating a developmental network like this is essential to career development as it means that even if you’re not in the room or part of a discussion, you will have someone there advocating for you. Someone who knows your brilliance and the value you bring, as well as what you want as a next step so that they can promote you. 

If it’s not a focus already, organisations need to be creating an environment of sponsorship and recognising the impact it can have.

And this isn’t just down to women… men can take powerful steps to promote women across an organisation. 

7. Sexual harassment

Women at all levels can be affected by sexual harassment and sadly it’s still a widespread problem in the workplace.

Research shows at least one-quarter of women have reported some sort of harassment on the job. Unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg as for every person that reports harassment there will be a number of scenarios where women haven’t felt comfortable or supported enough to report it. 

Harassment can come in many different forms… inappropriate comments and touches or derogatory, demeaning and humiliating behaviour.

Whatever the situation may be, it is unacceptable. Not only does it have a huge impact on a woman, her well being and overall life but it costs organisations in many ways: increased absenteeism, persistent job turnover, and low productivity and engagement.

This isn’t something that will go away on its own, organisations need to create prevention strategies and build a culture where inappropriate behaviour is called out. 

Leaders need to lead by example and if you see something wrong make sure to speak up. Silence makes you complicit and gives permission for the harassment to carry on. 

It’s also vital the correct reporting mechanisms are in place so that in the unfortunate case of a complaint, it is thoroughly investigated and the appropriate corrective action is taken.

8. Non-inclusive workplaces

Non-inclusive workplaces make women feel dismissed and ignored.

Unfortunately, I see it alot in the telecoms and tech industry in particular. These women are often the only women in the room and feel like outsiders who aren’t comfortable sharing their voice and speaking up. 

Workplaces need to be an inclusive place where everyone is free to be themselves and safe to bring their whole selves to work. 

This means organisations need to focus on creating policies, processes and rules focused on holding their teams accountable when it comes to inclusion. Make sure they are living and breathing it, as well as demonstrating it yourself. 

At the end of the day, an inclusive workplace helps an organisation’s bottom line. It helps companies thrive as people feel safe to be more innovative and creative. There is a diversity of experience and thought that leads to a better understanding of your customer base.

9. The double bind

Women's ability to lead is often undermined by gender stereotypes, a challenge also known as the ‘double bind’. The old saying “you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t” really sums it up! 

This refers to when women in the workplace are warm and compassionate, they are considered too soft. But when they are assertive, they’re seen as too aggressive. Women are never seen as just right! 

It found that gender stereotypes create several challenges for women because they’re often evaluated against a masculine standard of leadership. 

Women are left with limited and unfavourable options about creating their own style of leadership because they’re constantly being compared with the masculine standard… regardless of how they behave or how brilliant they perform and deliver as a leader.

Not only does this stifle their leadership potential but it can result in women doubting themselves, lacking confidence and limiting their opportunities to advance. 

To help challenge the double bind, leaders need to stop discrediting women based on gender stereotypes and identify whether or not they are judging people fairly. Ignore the gender of the person in question and see if it makes a difference in your thinking. (You can read more about how to challenge the double bind here)

10. Supporting women across different chapters through life

Women go through many different chapters of life and will require different forms of help and support throughout each.

For example, when a woman starts at an organisation, she might need help identifying who she really is and what her leadership style is.

However as she moves through her life… maybe when having a family, returning from time off, getting a promotion or job share… circumstances change. 

It’s important to know the different life stages that women go through, ensuring your organisation is supporting them and has the policies and procedures in place to do that.

A major challenge women face surrounds menopause and perimenopause. Introducing policies and training so that everybody in the company understands the impact can help support women who may be going through it. 

Want to hear more?

I talked more about what’s stopping women from getting to the top in an episode of the Women at the Top of Telecoms and Tech podcast.

Listen to Ep 075: What’s Stopping Women Getting to the Top 

Nic 

P.S If you need my help supporting women in your organisation and closing the gender pay gap you can contact me below.

Book a Call with Nic

Nicola Skorko Website

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