Yes it takes time for more women to reach leadership positions in companies, even though more and more qualified women are entering business management fields. One human resource expert in 2011 referred to the so-called infamous glass ceiling as being more of a brick ceiling. Yes, there are more women in senior management than ever before. However, proportionately, they still are under-represented as to their numbers in businesses in general. Back in 2020, Bloomberg News reported that women held more than a quarter of the board seats at S&P 500 companies for the first time, a significant gain. It was also reported at the time that, according to Catalyst which follows labour market trends, there now were 32 women leading S&P 500 companies. Increasingly although at a snail’s pace, more women are now holding the top finance jobs (e.g. Chief Financial Officers) at large U.S. companies, despite the fact that companies continue to have fewer women in operational roles.
What is disheartening in 2022, Bloomberg News reports that women are leaving the top ranks of companies at higher rates than ever before — as female employees remain less likely to get promoted into leadership roles in the first place. According to a new McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org report, for every woman at the director level who gets promoted, two female directors are choosing to leave their company. Bloomberg notes that while women have long been at a disadvantage in the workplace, many of problems have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, a lack of affordable childcare has contributed to more women leaving the workforce than men in recent years. A gender pay gap, which had been narrowing, also stalled during the pandemic. Furthermore, those in the highest ranks of their organizations are re-evaluating — because of a lack of advancement opportunities, flexibility or unequal treatment or a combination of these and other factors. Many of the factors were once again particularly true for women representing visible minority groups, such as women of colour. Women of colour continue to represent far fewer women promoted to a manager role from entry-level when compared to women in general. This is further complicated by the fact that there are still simply fewer women in upper management at most companies to be promoted.
McKinsey and LeanIn reported also that the pandemic affected women in other ways, in particular those related to remote work and work-life balance, especially where children are involved. They found that only one in ten female employees want to work from the office most of the time. The summary of their report said “many” women call hybrid work schedules a key reason for joining or sticking with an employer. LeanIn CEO Rachel Thomas points out that: “Women are not breaking up with work, they are breaking up with companies who are not delivering the work culture and the opportunity and the flexibility that’s so critically important to them”.
Women have made some strides to break the glass ceiling in recent years. According to a 2014 report by Reuters, for the first time more than half of 4,000 corporations worldwide reported boards with 10 percent or more female members. However, it is noted that for all the progress that’s been made, male CEOs and board members still vastly outnumber women.
All in all, it appears that the pandemic has stalled the steady progression which promoted more and more qualified women to senior management and corporate board positions. Most governments in the U.S. and Canada have made it clear that the current situation is still unacceptable. At all levels of government, most have promoted women to leadership and judicial positions, cabinet portfolios, and have attempted to encourage more women to run for political office. On the other hand, as one author noted, the inability to recruit and retain women in the corporate arena could be disastrous for businesses. This is not hyperbole, especially when women now make up the majority of university grads and most plan to enter the labour force upon graduation. Yes, frustration has set in and rightly so. Paying lip service and tokenism are no longer an option! At this time, what one has is only a crack in the glass ceiling!
FROLITICKS 
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