Women in Executive Positions: 5 Things They Do Right

Career
5 things we can learn from women in leadership positions

Unfortunately, women who sit in the executive chair – or perhaps we should rather say the inner chair – are still a rarity in 2021, although there are enough women out there with the necessary qualifications. If it is not due to a lack of professional skills, what is it? That is a good question that can actually be broken down into a few, but very concise, points.

Women are missing at the top

Women are often more than well educated and have bachelor’s, master’s and even doctor’s degrees under their belts. According to opinion poll In Germany, 24.7 percent of women have a general university entrance qualification, while it is around 25.9 percent of men. That is not a major difference. Nevertheless, the tide will turn at some point. Men seem to make the leap in terms of careers, while women tend to fall by the wayside.

Child or career

And when do the paths part? Mostly when a woman asks herself: Do I want children? Then it quickly becomes an “either-or”. Namely: Do I want a child (ren) or a career? Unfortunately, both are still difficult to reconcile in our society. When the child arrives at the latest, mum often has to take parental leave because dad earns more. Which brings us to the next topic, the gender pay gap. Women still earn, on average, 18 percent less than men, like one study from 2020 showed.

The patriarchy sends its regards

In addition, advancement opportunities for women are reduced because we still live in patriarchal structures. This simply means: The coveted “inner circle” of a company, which, especially in conservative institutions, consists largely of privileged men, decides on the potential of women to rise. And that’s where it fails. Because women are subconsciously not even considered as managers. And the lack of visibility, for example of a woman in a managerial position, results in the aforementioned pattern of ideas à la “The woman is a secretary or a hard-working project assistant, but a manager? I’ve never seen that before”. They are trained over a long period of time and it takes concentrated strength to fight against it, for example with the women’s quota.

What can we learn from women in management positions?

1. Elbow in, there’s room for more than one woman at the top

Sentences like “I actually prefer to work with men, women are so bitchy” sum up the internalized misogyny, which means something like internalized misogyny. They are an example of the fact that statements made by men about women also get stuck in our heads and possibly become beliefs such as “Women are bitchy”. This in turn leads to the fact that we stab each other in the back and put stones in the way instead of sticking together. It is so important to establish contacts and to network so that you can be recommended if the worst comes to the worst. There are even forums specifically for women for networking that also offer mentoring programs.

2. Self-marketing has nothing to do with ingratiating yourself

Many women struggle with self-doubt and a lack of self-confidence. Of course, this is not a gender thing per se, but women often find it difficult to grasp their skills for themselves and then to convey them to the outside world. If you do your job well, but nobody knows who is behind it, maybe someone else will take the laurels, that will not help you with career issues.

3. Say what you want

Expressing clearly what you want applies to almost all areas of life. Your career is no exception. Do you think a raise is appropriate for your competencies, which are growing every year? Then you have to address that. Would you like to take on another position with more challenges? Communicate it! Nobody can read your wishes from your lips and in case of doubt you step on the spot while the others pass you by.

4. Formulate your goals

Sometimes we’re very happy with what we do for a living, sometimes not. That is probably relatively normal. Still, it’s never too late to break new ground. Especially when you realize that you have maneuvered yourself into a dead end and can only get out with a change of direction. For this it is important to ask yourself from time to time what your professional goals are: What do I actually want to achieve? What am i working towards Clear goals can be extremely motivating and save you from ending up somewhere you never wanted to go in the first place.

5. All good things come in threes? 4? 7?

It doesn’t matter how many attempts it takes to get what you want. The journey is often the goal, and mistakes are made to learn from. Don’t let yourself get rid of too quickly and show perseverance. Because the fact that you suffer rejection and perhaps hear a “no” more often is completely normal and does not necessarily have anything to do with your person or your skills.

Sources: Own research, capital.de, statista.de

Brigitte