Why Mentorship benefits Women Leaders

“Women hold up more than half the sky and represent much of the world’s unrealised potential.”

Ki Moon (2011)

The unbalanced representation of women in leadership is a significant social, cultural, and organisational issue. Given that women now represent 40% of the global working population¹, it would be reasonable to expect a comparable gender ratio in leadership roles. However, women only represent 34% of managerial positions around the world², and even less in the top roles.

Lack of women leadership means that women can often face more bullying in the workplace, the workforce is less diverse at the top, and that the mental well-being of female employees can suffer too as they feel discriminated against and do not have the same opportunities to progress. The lack of women leaders also creates a paucity of role models that can inspire other women to enter and stay in the workforce.³

The persistent underrepresentation of female CEOs across different countries suggests that women face significant gender bias in the processes involved in the hiring and promotion of leaders⁴. This bias is attributed to more invisible forms of cultural assumptions and practices that inadvertently benefit men, whilst putting women at a disadvantage.

Psychology research has shown that there are two primary kinds of gender bias that affect women, called the descriptive and prescriptive bias. Descriptive bias is the labels we attach and associate with certain social groups and communities, and prescriptive bias is how they are expected to behave. And, when someone does not conform to these prescribed roles and behaviours they can be penalised or punished. Women, for instance, are traditionally expected to be caring, warm, deferential, emotional, sensitive, and so on, and men are expected to be assertive, rational, competent and objective. So, when it comes to promotion, these traits are sometimes automatically prescribed to people as per their gender without detailed information about their personalities, thereby a man, in general, is assumed to be a better fit as a leader.

The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership: Damned if You Do, Doomed if You Don’t Report⁵ identified three predicaments that put women in a double bind and can potentially undermine their leadership as well as their own advancement options:

1. Extreme Perceptions: Women are perceived as too soft or too tough but never just right.
2. The High Competence Threshold: Women leaders face higher standards and lower rewards than men leaders.
3. Competent but Disliked: Women leaders are perceived as competent or liked, but rarely both.

Because they are often evaluated against a ‘masculine’ standard of leadership, women are left with limited and unfavourable options, no matter how they behave and perform as leaders.

Women receive fewer stretch assignments and more vague, personal, and unhelpful feedback than men, preventing them from getting actionable information about their performance that would push them to learn, grow, and improve. Performance reviews are often subjective and have long been known to introduce gender biases, which over time can contribute to fewer numbers of women in leadership positions. Feedback on personality traits and workplace demeanour have a history of being a bit of a double-edged sword—penalising women for many of the same characteristics that are valued in their male counterparts. For example, a study by Kieran Snyder, CEO of Textio, found that negative personality feedback showed up 76% of the time in reviews of women, while only in 2% of men’s reviews⁶.

Women are expected to be more qualified than men for the same positions and are often hired based on their experience and accomplishments, whereas men are frequently hired based on their potential.

Leadership opportunities for men often come with more resources (funding, supervisor support, team size) as compared to women’s leadership opportunities.

Women are more likely to get ‘glass cliff’ positions, leadership opportunities that are high stakes, are precarious, and have a high likelihood of failure. As described in Ryan and Haslam’s research, the glass cliff examines what happens when women (and other minority groups) take on leadership roles. Extending the metaphor of the glass ceiling, ‘the glass cliff’ research has found that women tend to be appointed to leadership positions under very different circumstances than men. More specifically, this research suggests that women are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions that are associated with an increased risk of criticism and failure. Women’s leadership positions can thus be seen as more precarious than those of men⁷.

What organisations can do to develop women in leadership roles

For women to succeed in a leadership role, they need support. Sheryl Sandberg says lean in; women need to lean on. Women need a solid support structure and a team they can lean on.

For women leaders to be successful, gender diversity at the top is very important, women benefit from mentors and colleagues who inspire healthy competition and offer support. Women mentoring women is important, it helps them gain access to opportunities and cultivates their confidence in an often still male-dominated business environment. When more women lead, it creates a diversified leadership team open to discussing multiple perspectives that improves decision-making and strengthens the organisation to face the challenges of the future.⁸

Women benefit from connecting with more senior leaders who, in addition to providing feedback and support, can open doors to opportunities for growth and promotion.

Mentoring programs are a versatile solution that can help any individual with their career development. Mentoring programs can facilitate leadership skill development, among other things. These skills allow women to step towards top positions.

5 ways mentoring can benefit women in leadership

1. Change Perceptions – Mentoring can change the perception many women develop when their leaders do not recognise their talent. A mentor is in the unique role of celebrating a woman’s achievements while continuously developing her skills. More frequent feedback and recognition from a mentor will boost confidence and help women advance into leadership positions.
2. Articulate Career Ambitions – Generally, women don’t engage in self-advocacy nearly as much as they advocate for others. This means they are less outspoken about their ambitions in the organisation. Leaders in the organisation will remain unaware of these ambitions if they are not articulated. This can result in women being passed over for promotions, simply because leadership does not know they want leadership roles. Participating in a mentoring program can give some women a much-needed push in the right direction. Mentoring provides a safe space for women to openly discuss their ambitions. Additionally, a mentor should encourage women to take these ambitions and articulate them to organisational leadership. Whether the problem is with confidence or lack of necessary skills, mentors can work with women to overcome challenges.
3. Stay Accountable for Goal Achievement – Being part of a mentoring relationship can help to hold women accountable to their personal goals. It helps make career development easier and more achievable.
4. Build a Solid Network – Women tend to have fewer connections at work, partially due to lack of networking. This puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to new opportunities and promotions. However, a mentor can help build their networks. Having a mentor can give women access to professional networks that may not have been available before. A mentor can introduce them to others in their profession and generally make them more visible throughout the organisation. When women who were mentored step into leadership roles, they are able to mentor younger women, continuing the success lifecycle. This builds their networks further and promotes continuous gender diversity within the organisation.
5. Gain Confidence – Having a mentor provides a gateway to increased confidence through improved skills and developed leadership competencies. As they gain confidence, women are more likely to own their career development paths. They will begin to push themselves to achieve these goals and move up the corporate ladder. This is great for any succession strategy looking to diversify the leadership team with more women⁹.

Creating intentional organisational mentoring and sponsoring programs gives women greater access to senior leaders who can help direct them to the right kinds of challenging assignments and help them recognise the opportunities and learning potential to be gained from them.

Mentoring women can change the biases of those in charge. Bias against women, whether conscious or unconscious, continues to be an obstacle for women in their quest for leadership roles. These biases can be challenged when people in leadership roles mentor women, simply from the relationship built between the mentor and the mentee. When top leaders see first-hand how people within the company are affected, they are more likely to make a change toward more supportive workplace policies.

Women want leadership opportunities—but they also want the resources and support required to make these opportunities successful.

Encouraging sponsoring and mentoring for women is a great place to start. Communicate to everyone in your organisation that this is a priority and provide the resources and space to put plans into action. Don’t leave it up to individual women to establish mentorship or sponsorship arrangements.

References

1. The World Bank, 2017
2. World Economic Forum [WEF], 2018
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/10/23/not-very-likeable-here-is-how-bias-is-affecting-women-leaders/?sh=1c6889fc295f
4. Frontiers | Overlooked Leadership Potential: The Preference for Leadership Potential in Job Candidates Who Are Men vs. Women | Psychology (frontiersin.org)
5. https://www.catalyst.org/research/the-double-bind-dilemma-for-women-in-leadership-damned-if-you-do-doomed-if-you-dont/
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebekahbastian/2019/03/08/personality-based-performance-reviews-are-fine-to-give-women-as-long-as-men-get-them-too/?sh=63e03a031667
7. The ‘Glass Cliff’ Phenomenon That Senior Female Leaders Face Today And How To Avoid It (forbes.com)
8. https://www.forbes.com/sites/committeeof200/2021/10/26/mentoring-matters-the-importance–of-female-mentorship/?sh=58dc82f4ccaa
9. https://www.insala.com/blog/5-ways-mentoring-can-benefit-women-in-leadership