By Melissa Kandel
It’s long been a personal theory of mine that women leaders who find some version of success have a responsibility to blaze their path so bright it illuminates a trail for others to follow. And though the journey before us will be filled with unexpected twists and unpredictable turns, we’ll know there’s a way. She’s done it, so we can.
Even if it’s raining in Las Vegas, which it was during the real estate conference I attended when the idea for this article first took shape. Desert showers didn’t dampen the spirit of the event, or one of its featured breakout sessions, “Women Who Lead.” The panel discussion was moderated by Teresa Palacios Smith, HomeServices of America’s Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, and a global champion for transformative change.
“As you come up the ladder,” she said, scanning a room packed with women real estate leaders, “it’s important to bring others with you.”
To echo Palacios Smith’s wise words, we must climb and send the ropes down, pull up a seat at the table then grab the chair in the corner so we can add a spot for a talented coworker with something to say. Supporting the success of women not only brings fresh perspectives to every board room but also inherently adds a much-needed element of inclusion into the framework of a company. When team members incubate an inclusive culture—through hiring and promoting—the organization can better mirror the diversity of the client it serves, whether it’s a person buying a house or a customer buying a cupcake. American consumers have not one face or color. To really help everyone, we must adequately grasp the perspectives of all.
OK, that sounds nice, say the imaginary nodding heads, like some fun sing along complete with marshmallows roasted over a warm, crackling fire on a mid-spring night. But how can we turn the feel-good vibes of inclusion into actual, actionable solutions that will assuage inclusion-deficient companies desperately needing to de-homogenize their ranks?
McKinsey, in partnership with LeanIn.org, published its eighth annual “Women in the Workplace” report, and in it we find our first clue about where to get started. With boldface type the study declares: “Despite modest progress, women are still dramatically underrepresented in leadership roles.”
The statement calls out a necessary turning point in the evolution of corporate diversity, a not-so-subtle shift from talking about inclusion to making it happen. Of course, hiring more women in managerial and senior-level positions would help. McKinsey and LeanIn.org’s report showed women were underrepresented in upper-management roles. Even accounting for natural attrition, only one in four C-suite leaders is a woman, and only one in 20 is a woman of color. Companies suffer from what McKinsey/LeanIn.Org calls a “broken rung,” explaining: “Men significantly outnumber women at the manager level … There are simply too few women to promote to senior leadership positions.”
According to the McKinsey study, for every 100 men moved up to manager, 87 women were promoted to a manager’s position and 82 women of color were promoted. Including promotions and outside hiring, the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates about 42 percent of manager-level positions are held by women today.
Beyond new hires and the internal promotion of smart, capable women, inclusion can be achieved in smaller though no less impactful ways. Companies can provide promising female employees with a formal mentorship program; offer opportunities for education, networking and career expansion; and measure—then reward—success along key company metrics.
Still, there is one upside to a woman-manager-deficient, inclusion-stagnant state of the workplace. As corporate inclusion stagnates in an off-key medley of coffee break conversations and unrealized dreams, entrepreneurship among women continues to rise. According to American Express, since 2014 the number of women-owned businesses grew by 21% to nearly 13 million in 2019, translating into 42% of all companies that are at least 51% owned, controlled and managed by one or more women. The Hill notes that 849 new women-owned businesses open every day and since the early 2000s, women-owned businesses climbed by 114 percent.
Business Insider speculates that the current surge of female entrepreneurship has a direct correlation to the pervasiveness of workplace microaggressions and discriminatory behavior still running rampant in corporations across America. The male coworker who assumes a female employee is more junior than she is, the vice president who jokes about pregnancy weight gain, these are the behaviors sending women directly toward the entrepreneurial ether, destined to find a success detached from the anachronism of a diversity-stale office space. In the end, the bad could become the good. A lack of inclusion might just be the very circumstance that’ll provide the necessary impetus for companies—afraid of losing their female trailblazers—to change inclusion of women in the workplace from a talking point to a pointed truth.
And that’s not to discredit the meaningful work already happening at organizations throughout the U.S., where diversity, equity and inclusion is far more than a footnote in an FAQ. At these brands, female leadership isn’t rare. It’s an integral, integrated part of company culture and doesn’t need an international day to prompt its celebration. (Although no shade to this holiday, International Women’s Day is undeniably awesome.) Female leadership at these types of organizations just is, and that’s a huge step in the right direction. As proof, for the first time in the Fortune 500’s 68-year history, more than 10% of the companies named to the 2023 list are led by women.
It’s a start though not a finish, and I don’t think we’ll ever quite be at a place where the numbers truly add up, and maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world to ignite real progress. What’s that they say about a woman scorned? Any lingering inequality in the workplace adds fuel to the fire, lighting us up as we light the path forward, and bring all women leaders along the way.
