The disparity between men and women in leadership positions remains a stark and depressing reality, despite decades of progress toward workplace equality. According to the 2024 Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Company, women continue to be significantly underrepresented, holding only 29% of C-suite positions despite comprising nearly half of entry-level employees.
Progress, so far, has been slow. 2024’s stat is only one percent higher than it was the year before. And we’ve surely all heard by now the depressing fact that there are more execs named “John” heading Fortune 500 companies than there are women (named anything!) in comparable roles.
The biggest problem, the report notes, currently exists at the lowest levels of leadership where women simply are not managing to get a foot in the door, which does not bode well for improving future prospects.
This leadership gap isn’t merely a statistical concern – nor is it only an issue to be tackled for social, ethical and moral reasons. The gap also represents missed opportunities for organisations. Research has shown that not only are women commonly a safer pair of hands financially when leading an organisation, but that that more diverse, representative leadership brings with it greater capacity for innovation, profitability and performance.
So why, when all the evidence points to the need to erase gendered barriers in order to boost professional progression, are we still falling so woefully short of levelling the playing field?
In exploring this challenge, the BlueSky Thinking team reached out to Professor Jackie Ford of Durham University Business School, inviting her to share her perspectives and discuss the ways in which industry can make progress on the Digestible Academia podcast.
Jackie is well-recognised amongst academic circles for being a forerunner in exploring how gender influences leadership and organisational practice. Throughout her academic life she has authored a significant body of work on these topics, focusing on the reality of working lives and how gender – indeed all aspects of DEI – are impacted when society continues to conform to the prevailing stereotypes of leadership, management and outdated work practices.
It’s not only an academic lens which has guided her work. Having also spent over a decade holding a variety of senior-level managerial roles in the healthcare sector, Jackie has the benefit of having seen first-hand how such gendered thinking and attitudes have impacted workspaces and structures, applying real-world experience to academic investigation.
What has her work shown her? We sat down with Jackie to find out more.
We don’t need another hero
When exploring typical organisational practice, it’s hardly surprising that Jackie tends not to take tried and tested procedure at face value. “I’m interested in critiquing those,” she shares. Just because an approach is working, that’s no excuse for not looking at how to improve it.
Whilst, admittedly, some progress has been made over the years in supporting women seeking to take up C-suite roles, Jackie says that this has been hindered by a number of “hidden hurdles” that exist in workplace norms, which continue to reinforce masculine leadership behaviours.
By valuing traits such as competitiveness, aggression, self-reliance and individualism in leadership, Jackie says organisations continue to uphold the idea that leaders must be infallible. “There remains a tendency to fixate on hierarchical and traditional forms of leadership with much too much attention paid to senior elite leaders as masculine superheroes,” she comments.
This not only narrows perspectives in what to look for in a potential successor when the time arises, edging women out of the running, but also significantly undervalues more collaborative and empathetic management styles – whether embodied by men or women – that research shows can bring superior results. It is not just a gendered issue.
But it’s women, Jackie continues, that suffer further by being held to those heroic ideals even if they readily embody them. Assertiveness comes off as being too aggressive or bossy, speaking up and disagreeing with colleagues becomes perceived as being difficult, and showing passion is demeaned as an overly emotional response to a situation. Yet failing to display any of the above reinforces an unfair perception of being incapable or ill-equipped to rise to the challenge.
In short, women can’t win.
Breaking the mould of leadership
The current model for making the “ideal leader”, Jackie acknowledges, needs to be broken apart and rebuilt – or perhaps discarded entirely, if we are to make any positive steps forward. But this is far easier said than done, especially as professional practices which visibly encourage DEI are put under increasing scrutiny. “There is a very real danger this will stop or even reverse some of the progress that we’ve made in recent years,” Jackie comments.
The result, as well as the loss of opportunity for not only women but any talented individual who does not fit the mould, will be a curtailing on organisational reach and capability – something which could be disastrous as businesses face the pressure to expand, innovate and excel more than ever before.
How do we move forward from such a bleak projection? Jackie believes it will take collective action. She emphasising the importance of speaking up and challenging those outdated existing norms – a difficult but necessary action to encourage change. “Those in non-leader roles need to take responsibility for claiming their voice,” she says. “Speaking out and denouncing the victim position can be really vital.” In taking back control, taking ownership and responsibility for the things that they do, women can ensure their efforts are not only recognised, but recognised as theirs.
Small rebellions can create big changes
She also advocates for staff taking small acts of in-house rebellion, challenging long-held ideas and practices and offering another way forward. One voice, she shares, can be easily ignored, but multiple voices speaking out and speaking often? That’s more difficult to turn a blind eye to. “Through practices of mutual recognition,” she says, “we can steer a course away from the heroic leader figure and into a more mutual, collaborative approach.”
Like how nudge theory (the behavioural science approach that aims to influence people’s choices through making regular, subtle changes in the environment around them) encourages people to adopt healthier eating patterns or quit smoking, small regular acts of rebellion can encourage organisations towards adopting more progressive stances and practices.
It is in valuing variety, she reaffirms, that companies can find new ways to create an impact, whether that is in bringing in new leaders or encouraging staff at all levels to pursue and share new approaches. “We need to recognise the heterogeneity, the whole complexity of different people’s voices, perspectives, views, is vital for organisations,” she states. “We need that diversity because that’s what creates more innovation, more entrepreneurship, and there are many more ways to lead effectively than the dominant, predominant one that still dominates our workplace.”
An eye on the future
Will the outlook for women change in the near future? Jackie, whilst hopeful, is a realist at heart. “I’m really concerned at the recent pushback in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion at work, and very much hope this isn’t going to become a trend,” she says.
In the face of adversity, the message is clear – speak up and speak loudly. One way or another, you will be heard.
You can hear Jackie’s interview in full on Digestible Academia – listen HERE.
By, Kerry Ruffle
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