If you’re wondering why the number of women in senior roles remains low despite all the progress we think we’ve made, this episode unpacks what’s really going on beneath the surface.

We talk to Geraldine Gallacher - CEO, coach, author and president of the City Women’s Network - about the deep-rooted systems that continue to hold women back in leadership. She shares her wealth of knowledge, and explains the causes she sees as key to understand and address - systemic bias, cultural norms and unspoken expectations.

We explore how leadership still tends to favour agentic qualities like dominance and decisiveness, generally associated with men, and often sidelines qualities more valued by employees, such as collaborative and inclusive behaviours.

We also talk about how women are judged more harshly for the same behaviours that are seen as strong in men, and why many women struggle to find visible role models who lead in a way they can relate to.

Geraldine shares some practical points, to help organisations continue to address this ongoing challenge.

Key Points Discussed

• Leadership is still widely associated with agentic rather than collaborative styles
• Many women blame themselves for a lack of progress rather than recognising systemic bias
• Flexible working policies exist but workplace culture has not caught up
• Young women may not notice bias until they are more advanced in their careers
• There is still a lack of relatable female role models in leadership
• Men are also penalised when they deviate from traditional norms, especially in parenting
• Women’s development programmes can help open eyes to what is systemic rather than personal

Key Takeaway

The issue is not with women. It is with the structures that still reward one narrow idea of leadership. Until organisations stop gendering leadership traits and take systemic action, progress will remain stuck.

If you liked this, you might like these related episodes:

S4 07 - How to be a More Strategic HR Leader?

S2 08 - The Key to Confident Leadership

S2 01 -Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

About Geraldine Gallacher

Geraldine is a pioneer in coaching setting up The Executive Coaching Consultancy in 1994 and qualifying as a Master Coach with the Association of Coaching early in its inception.

In 2005 she had something of an epiphany when she started to question why she was coaching so many men and not women. This led to her writing her book Coaching Women, Changing the System not the Person and launching her own podcast Shifting the Needle where the needle she’s referring to is the number of women leaders in business. 

Thank you for tuning into this episode of The Strategic Leader podcast. 

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If you have any questions or want to discuss anything, we’d love to hear from you:

www.gemmabullivant.co.uk (for Gemma)

www.wearegoodthinking.co.uk (for Fi)