Women's leadership programmes work – but their progress is 'fragile'

Talent accelerators are touted as a way to boost women to leadership positions. They help – but require larger change for their effects to stick.

Since 2006, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has tracked gender parity in worldwide economic opportunities, education, health and representation in political leadership. The gender gap is nearly closed for health outcomes and education, says Silja Baller, head of mission, diversity, equity and inclusion at the WEF.

But large gaps remain for economic participation and political representation. "There seems to be a gap between the educational outcomes and how women are faring in the labour market subsequently, " she says. Women have largely achieved the same education levels that men have, but it doesn't seem to be affecting their access to jobs. 

There are myriad reasons for the gender gap in leadership – among them, lack of affordable childcare, the so-called "motherhood penalty" and outright discrimination. Women are also gender stereotyped. While women's performance ratings often exceed men's, they're more likely to receive lower ratings for potential. Women tend to doubt their own capabilities, too. According to a 2024 report by executive search firm Russell Reynolds, women who want to climb the ladder are nearly twice as likely as men to believe they're not qualified for their manager's job.

These kinds of elements produce overrepresentation at low company ranks, and underrepresentation at the top. "On average, we have about 46% women in entry-level positions, but that drops to 25% at the C-suite level," says Baller. 

The composition of the corporate workforce showed signs of turnaround for nearly a decade, but that success was short-lived. "The hiring rates of women into leadership was increasing steadily for eight years until 2022," says Baller. "However, in 2022 we actually see a downturn in this hiring into leadership positions." The reason for that downturn remains unclear, she says. It's something her team is still studying.

Where women are absent in leadership positions, some companies, including Lloyd's of London and Baker Hughes, are instituting programmes that focus on developing women's careers. The World Economic Forum found in 2023 that 79% of private-sector companies have implemented diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes that focus on women. Others, like LeanIn.org, which advocates for and trains women to advance their careers, have created independent programmes available to anyone who wants to access the curriculum. 

Yet the leadership gap stubbornly persists. In 2023, LinkedIn researchers estimated women held less than one-third of leadership positions worldwide. Talent accelerators may be able to promote some women into leadership roles, but the root causes of the gender leadership gap remain beyond their reach.

Initiatives for developing female leaders go by many names – sometimes called 'talent accelerators' or 'leadership development programmes' – but the goal is the same: to promote women into leadership positions and keep them there.

If these programmes succeed, benefits are plentiful. First, there is evidence to suggest that companies with gender-diverse leadership teams are more profitable, and employee turnover can cost a company millions every year. The knock-on effect of good PR also can't be ignored.

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Most participants are high-performers on the cusp of individual contributor and manager, a stage when women's careers are stalled or derailed by a penalty known as the "broken rung" on the career ladder. Though men and women are roughly equally represented in entry-level roles, for every 100 men promoted to manager positions, only 87 women are promoted, according to the 2023 Women in the Workplace Report by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org. It's a gap that widens at the highest levels of business.

Development programmes focus on building soft skills, like public speaking, confident communication, negotiation and asking for a promotion. Plenty of organisations teach new technical skills to their workers, says Rachel Thomas, cofounder and CEO of LeanIn.org. Curricula for accelerators are intended to develop the skills women need to supplement those technical skills and become effective leaders. Talent accelerators also often facilitate networking, especially with senior leaders, intended to correct unequal access to mentoring and sponsorship that help workers climb the ladder. 

Like all accelerators, LeanIn's own training curriculum considers gender paradigms in the workplace. "It was developed not only for what you need to do to be an effective negotiator or a transformational leader, but also, 'what are some of the unique considerations if you're doing that as a woman or a woman with a traditionally marginalised identity? If you're a new mother, what are some strategies? What do you need to know about the pushback you might get">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });