Slowly and steadily, women have been making their mark in the corporate workforce. In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented number of women scale the corporate ladder and land at the top of some of the world’s largest companies. Five Fortune 50 companies — GM, HP, IBM, Archer Daniels Midland and PepsiCo — all have women sitting at the helm. According to media reports, within five years, more women than men will be in the global workforce.
The percentage of women in leadership positions doesn’t quite match the presence of women in the workforce. Only 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. And overall, only 14.6 percent of women hold the CEO position.
A recent CNBC article took a look at what may be causing the discrepancy. The story reports that “female leaders are every bit as competent as their male counterparts” but women tend to be far less confident than men in their leadership skills.
The article mentions a recent book by two female broadcast journalists — Claire Shipment and Kitty Kay — that confirms the theory. In “The Confidence Code,” the authors write, “He thinks he can. She thinks she can't. Compared to men, women don't consider themselves as ready for promotion, they predict they will do worse on tests, and they generally underestimate their abilities.”
CNBC reports that studies have shown that confidence is just as important as competence with regard to career success. Through events such as the Global Women’s Leadership Summit, DLA Piper is working hard to do its part in closing that gap by developing and promoting its female lawyers to maximize their opportunities for business generation and leadership and increase awareness regarding such opportunities.