Glass Doors To The Corner Office

While more women than ever now participate in the paid workforce[1], it still can be hard to find women in top leadership positions. 

 

Only 24 (4.8%) CEOs at S&P 500 companies were women, according to the data in January 2018 [2]. In 2017, 22.2% of Fortune 500 board seats were filled by women[3]. In Singapore, 14.7% of board members among top 100 primary-listed companies were women as at 30 June 2018[4].

 

To understand why so few women are in top leadership positions, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, a research team at the Center for Creative Leadership set out to understand what factors help women achieve leadership positions, what factors prevent it, and how organizations could add more women to their leadership ranks.

 

The researchers learned that there is no single reason or simple solution. Increasing the number of women in leadership positions will require aspiring women leaders to develop themselves professionally and, in some cases, adopt new behaviors. But the organizational context that women work within is also important.

 

The paper raised five key questions that women should reflect on as they consider their ambitions. It also summarizes five key lessons that came up repeatedly in the conversations with women leaders who had worked their way into leadership positions. 

 

Moreover, this paper discusses some of the changes organizations can make to increase the number of women leaders. These include policies and changes in organizational culture.

 

 

The research was carried out in two phases. First, 204 women leaders from Singapore, Australia, India, and Korea were surveyed. They were given a list of reasons that might contribute to the lack of women in leadership positions and were asked to select up to five items they most agreed with and five they most disagreed with.

 

In phase two, 27 face-to-face interviews were conducted with women leaders working in Singapore. They told their personal leadership stories, shared their perspective on women leaders’ career enablers and blockers, and also completed the phase 1 survey.