Women are more highly educated than ever and are strongly represented in the labor market, yet they remain significantly underrepresented in top leadership positions.
PhD candidate in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Vedika Lal shows that this is not due to a lack of ambition, self-confidence, or talent among women, but rather to the way organizations are structured and how leadership is defined and evaluated.
Lal examined three crucial moments in career trajectories: the aspiration to become a leader, the ways in which people advocate for themselves, and how leadership potential is assessed in hiring and promotion decisions. One central question guided her research: how do organizational culture and gender stereotypes influence women’s opportunities to advance into leadership roles? Her conclusion is clear: women do not need to change in order to reach the top. It is the system that needs to be reformed.
No lack of ambition or agency
The findings challenge persistent assumptions. For example, women are more likely to develop leadership ambitions when they work with supervisors who are supportive and empathetic. This holds regardless of whether the supervisor is a man or a woman. This indicates that women’s leadership aspirations may be supported by diverse role models, not only those who share their gender.
The notion that women are reluctant to promote themselves is also incorrect. Women do advocate for themselves, but often in more flexible and context-sensitive ways. In doing so, they aim to be professionally effective while avoiding negative reactions that are still tied to gender stereotypes.
In the selection and evaluation of leadership potential, another factor plays an important role: visible leadership qualities such as persuasive communication and charisma. Candidates who display these attributes are evaluated more positively, regardless of their gender. Women are therefore not automatically penalized when they demonstrate leadership behaviors.
Responsibility lies with organizations
The societal message of the research is clear: those who want to address gender inequality in leadership should not try to “fix” women, but instead change organizations. Many current interventions still focus on teaching women to be more assertive or confident, even though in practice they already demonstrate ambition and competence.
Organizations can, for example, create more space for inclusive and collaborative forms of leadership instead of clinging to a traditional, often masculine ideal. Managers would benefit from recognizing different ways of self-presentation, even when they are less visible. In recruitment and promotion, working with clear and consistent evaluation criteria can help reduce the influence of personal assumptions and bias.
Relevance to the current debate
The findings are relevant for companies, policymakers, and anyone concerned with equal opportunities in the labor market. Concrete applications include allyship events, revised promotion criteria, and leadership training and hiring processes that better reflect diverse leadership styles that move away from existing 'masculine defaults' embedded in work places.