The Statistics

“Today, women make up about half our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns… that is wrong, and in 2014, it's an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work” - President Obama (2014 State of the Union address)

There are many factors as to why the number of women in leadership positions remains small. Gender stereotypes, social perception, power and fear are a few of the reasons for the slow increase of women entering into senior level positions. Over the last few decades, there has been considerable progress made in the advancement of professional women. The gender-gap has narrowed, gender segregation has declined and the percentage of women climbing the management ranks has steadily rose, but the rate of growth remains slow (Warner, 2014). Judith Warner of the Center for American Process writes that, “in fact, it’s now estimated that, at the current rate of change, it will take until 2085 for women to reach parity with men in leadership positions” (Warner, 2014, p.1). If this statistic is accurate then the current generation of working professionals will not experience a world where gender equality exists.

According to the Center for American Progress, “women account for 50.8 percent of the U.S. population and hold almost 52 percent of all professional-level jobs, yet American women lag substantially behind men when it comes to their representation in leadership positions” (Warner, 2014, p. 1). This report also states that women (Warner, 2014, pp. 1-2):

• Earn more than 44 percent of master’s degrees in business and management, including 37 percent of MBA’s.

• Hold just 16.9 percent of Fortune 500 board seats.

• In information technology, they hold only 9 percent of management positions and account for only 14 percent of senior management positions at Silicon Valley startups

• Although women control 80 percent of consumer spending in the United States, they are only 3 percent of creative directors in advertising.

This study is one of many that provides statistics and data surrounding the topic of few women in leadership roles in organizations. Companies are now aware more than ever that there is a gender gap in leadership positions but it will take more than a few vocal companies to make significant change. It will take education, support by large companies and advertisers, education for the masses and courage by women to stand up for gender equality. It becomes the responsibility of the current generation of working professionals to help expedite the change process and take action to increase the rate of change for women in organizations. What do you think we can do as a society to help increase the number of women in leadership positions?

Warner, J. (2014). The women’s leadership gap. Center For American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2014/03/07/85457/fact-sheet-the-womens-leadership-gap/