The Lack of Female Leadership

Female leadership is severely lacking in both political institutions and commercial organisations across the world. The gap in female leadership persists despite the fact that it is absolutely vital and has several benefits such as better decision-making due to diverse viewpoints, increased representation of women, thus inspiring other girls and women to pursue leadership positions, and the fact that female-led organisations have a larger percentage of women in their workforce overall. 

In India, merely 17% of the board of directors of companies are women and the percentage of women members of Parliament is a dismal 14%. However, this problem extends to more than just India – it is nearly universal. For instance, in the US as well, the top management is predominantly or entirely male for more than half of all business organizations. 

There are several barriers that stand in the way of women obtaining more leadership positions. Women face a great deal of gender discrimination as well as preconceived notions as to the suitability of women for leadership positions that prevent them from advancing to higher positions in an organisation. People often believe that women are fundamentally less suited for leadership roles than men due to misplaced stereotypes that women are too emotional, weak, etc. People’s mistrust and prejudices towards women leaders are still prevalent. The Reykjavik Leadership Index measures people’s attitudes towards female leadership. It found that in many countries, people are still widely averse to female leadership. For example, in South Korea, almost 50% of respondents said that they would be opposed to having a female CEO of a major company or a female head of government.

Another hurdle preventing the proliferation of female leadership is the fact that women are oftentimes discluded from informal social gatherings and other established professional networks. Furthermore, a history of inadequate female leadership has led many women to themselves believe that they would be incapable of assuming such a position. 

Evidently, the state of female leadership in India and across most countries is abysmal. A lot still needs to be done to combat the issue of insufficient female leadership. Steps that can be taken range from changing people’s mindsets regarding the suitability of women to leadership to ensuring that women’s aspirations for leadership are supported and nurtured from the very onset. For a paradigm shift in favour of a much more equal role played by women in leadership positions, we must foster women’s self-belief and confidence and create a supportive environment by challenging social norms and stereotypes.

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