Despite a decade of research highlighting the accomplishments of women in leadership roles, gender diversity in corporate America remains woefully imbalanced.
While many enterprises have invested in inclusion initiatives, decades of change programs have yielded few results. Existing inclusion programs have yielded little more than positive media. Any improvements have been marginal at best. According to research, systematic gender bias starts early in women’s careers and worsens as they ascend the corporate ladder.
So, what is the disconnect between inclusion initiatives and meaningful results? There’s been little progress across the corporate landscape over the last two decades. Working environments across the continuum of industries continue to cater to males, as well do work salaries. Take Marketing, for example, where males earn an average of $62,560 per year while women earn a sizeable 12% less.
These conditions left many female professionals feeling out of place in the work environment. To elicit change, business leaders must take aim at the entrenched norms embedded in America’s corporate culture.
Many women are predisposed to share accomplishments. This can place them at a disadvantage; in a traditional competitive workplace, sharing achievements can diminish the role that women have made toward achieving organizational objectives.
Despite this circumstance, this characteristic is vital to foster the kind of collaborative work environment needed to help enterprises thrive in the modern, competitive marketplace.
To learn more about the challenges faced by women in corporate America, check out the following infographic by our friends at the Ohio University Online Master’s of Business Administration program.
Author
Paul Slezak
With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique "entertraining" and "edutaining" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.
