The higher up the leadership ladder you look, the fewer women are found. The broken rung at the first step of the ladder has a lot to do with it, because women are stopped from advancing into management positions for many reasons. A leaky pipeline is another reason, meaning that women get into management only to drop out. Even when they do continue to climb, women are over-represented in support functions, like human resources and administration and under-represented in operations and profit and loss functions. The gender gap persists, and it is due to factors such as organizational culture, compensation differences between men and women, and human resources policies that favor men, to name but a few reasons. he higher up the leadership ladder you look, the fewer women are found. The broken rung at the first step of the ladder has a lot to do with it, because women are stopped from advancing into management positions for many reasons. A leaky pipeline is another reason, meaning that women get into management only to drop out. Even when they do continue to climb, women are over-represented in support functions, like human resources and administration and under-represented in operations and profit and loss functions. The gender gap persists, and it is due to factors such as organizational culture, compensation differences between men and women, and human resources policies that favor men, to name but a few reasons

Bias exists, especially in the form of stereotyping, and it keeps women from realizing their potential. Job design that supports women’s rise into leadership positions includes factors like flexible hours, parental leave instead of maternity leave, full and realistic recognition for their efforts, and talent management systems that ensure bias is not holding them back.