Optimistic Perspectives on Women’s Leadership Programs

Global Perspectives on Women’s Leadership Programs

Women’s leadership programs play an important role in empowering and supporting the development of aspiring and future female leaders. Certainly, almost all women who are wanting to level up their careers and step up into a leadership position can benefit from taking part in a women’s leadership program, as this will allow them to develop important skills that all leaders require – for example, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, and influencing. 

All around the world, more and more companies and other organisations are starting to recognise the importance of these programs. In particular, organisations are starting to recognise the challenges and obstacles that women in leadership can face, and are making a commitment to supporting these women with the tools and resources they need to be able to overcome these to thrive as leaders.  

Many of these programs foster a combination of technical and soft skills that set women up for a successful career in leadership – for example, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, and influencing. Many also foster important skills like self-care and resilience, which prepare women to be able to respond to and overcome the barriers, setbacks, and obstacles that they are likely to encounter in pursuit of their leadership ambitions.

Research shows that only around 86 men are promoted to leadership roles for every 100 men promoted, which drops to as few as 52 women for every 100 men in some industries. This demonstrates that women leaders typically face more barriers to promotion and career growth than their male counterparts. 

Around the world, there are a few other key trends that have been observed in women’s leadership in recent years. Aside from an increased investment of time and resources in women’s leaderships and initiatives that support female leaders to step up and pursue their ambitions of leadership, many organisations are also placing a greater amount of emphasis on diversity as a whole.

Many organisations have been focusing on recruiting leaders from diverse backgrounds, recognising the unique perspectives and experiences they can bring to the table. This includes women leaders, as well as other diverse leaders of different races, ethnicities, cultures, religious, sexual orientations, and socio-economic backgrounds.  

It is encouraging to see that more and more companies and organisations around the world are beginning to recognise the importance of women’s leadership programs. However, there is still more work to do, as in Australia, women account for only around 19.4% of CEOs, 32.5% of key management positions, 33% of board members, and 18% of board chairs as of 2021.

A similar trend can be observed worldwide, with women still drastically underrepresented in key executive leadership and decision-making roles. In fact, one report on female leadership found that only 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, with 89% being men. This emphasised the need for an increasing amount of global focus to be placed on empowering and supporting female CEOs and leaders. 

Despite the fact that there continues to be a significant amount of inequality when you look at the number of women in leadership positions compared to the number of men, it has been encouraging to see an upward trend in women’s leadership globally in recent years. As of 2016, the share of women hired into leadership roles was estimated to be around 33.3%, which increased to around 35% between 2019 and 2020.

As of 2021, around 36% of leadership roles were thought to be held by women. With women’s leadership training programs and a growing number of organisations around the world showing support for women in leadership, it is hoped that this encouraging trend will continue into the future to create equality and gender parity within the executive leadership world. 

Looking to the future, executive coaching and other women’s leadership programs will continue to play an important role in supporting and empowering women all over the world to step up and pursue their dreams of becoming a successful leader.

 

Caroline Kennedy is an award-winning CEO with a track record of leading multinational companies with up to $250 million in revenue. She is also the founder of Empowering Women Leaders: Awaken the Powerful Leader Within – a transformative eight-week program designed to help women master the art of leadership. If you’re ready to unleash your hidden potential and become the leader that you were always meant to be, find out more at https://www.carolinekennedy.com.au/women-leadership-program/.