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In 2025, it is not unusual to see just one lady in a boardroom. From Fortune 500 corporations to small mom-and-pop outlets, typically girls are arduous to search out in management. I do know as a result of I have been there. Because the proprietor of a boutique consultancy, I’ve hosted dozens of workshops that assist companies remodel their organizational cultures in the direction of inclusion and fairness. However once I lookup from my presentation, typically I’m the one lady within the room.
It is not as a result of I’m extra distinctive than different girls; it is as a result of there are obstacles to entry. Whereas being the “first” or “solely” lady on the desk is usually hailed as progress, it will possibly include hidden prices: stress to overperform, emotional labor, isolation and the unstated expectation to signify all girls.
Too many ladies have hit their heads on the glass ceiling (or the concrete wall, which many ladies of coloration face) solely to be trapped on the backside rungs of organizations. Fortuitously, there are structural adjustments we will make to take away the obstacles to entry and permit really proficient and certified girls to succeed in their full potential.
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Acknowledge your bias
If you happen to’re a CEO, hiring supervisor or in a management function, ask your self: What are your true emotions about girls in management? Do you wrestle to belief girls in high-level positions? Do you end up getting distracted when girls are talking? Do you end up speaking over or interrupting girls in conferences? Do you’ve got a lingering perception that the ladies on the desk want a person within the room to validate their concepts earlier than you take into account them?
If you happen to answered sure to any of those questions, you could have a unfavorable bias in the direction of girls in management. With the intention to take away the obstacles of entry and create house for wonderful girls to thrive, we should first handle our personal inside bias round girls in energy. Solely then can we speak about inclusion and extra.
Depart house for girls to steer
If you happen to wrestle to belief girls in high-level positions, take into account transferring by way of that bias by providing alternatives for certified girls to steer on sure initiatives, particularly if their title or expertise signifies that they’re the very best particular person to steer. Ask them what they want to have the ability to ship on that mission and take away obstacles to accessing these assets.
Provide coaching and improvement applications designed to arrange girls for management and profession development. One instance is Boundless™, a program I created to assist girls, males, and allies break by way of systemic obstacles and foster resilience for girls inside organizations. You would be shocked how a collection of studying experiences may help form an government workforce’s strategy to management and might pave the way in which for girls to confidently step up.
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Be clear about promotions and development
One of many ways in which girls grow to be the “just one” in a room is when they’re courageous sufficient to ask for what they want. It is nonetheless taboo to make the case for development or speak about a wage enhance. Most ladies are taught to play small and to maintain these conversations restricted. Nevertheless, a courageous few break by way of and are in a position to climb the company ladder.
Nevertheless, if corporations want for there to be extra girls in larger positions, having strategic and intentional conversations round pay, profession pathing and promotional transparency is important. Everybody must know what it takes to succeed in the highest, and everybody ought to no less than have a way of whether or not they’re able to it. Management could make pay scales clear and accessible to staff. Firms have the facility to create a roadmap to development so extra girls can really feel assured taking the leap.
Present the infrastructure for girls’s psychological wellbeing
By no means underestimate the facility of neighborhood and selling psychological wellbeing within the office. In my Boundless™ program, I advocate for leaders and organizations to prioritize radical self-care for his or her staff by giving them methods on the way to decrease burnout and grow to be an “emotionally-regulated chief,” as I name it. It might sound summary, however there are concrete methods within the type of programming that corporations can put into place to make sure that all staff, particularly girls on the highest ranges, are mentally sound and do not at all times carry the burden of being “the one one.”
Firms can even set up formal worker useful resource teams (ERGs) the place leaders of all genders can join round shared obligations, objectives, and influence. From there, they will generate bigger initiatives that encourage extra girls to come back to the desk and create a way of belonging.
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Be agency about anti-discrimination
Whereas many corporations have anti-discrimination insurance policies in writing, typically enforcement will be spotty. Some girls might come to management or HR with a small however vital concern that will get swept below the rug. Not having clear and consequential insurance policies whereas failing to clarify the “why” behind them can go away many ladies weak to harassment and discrimination.
The consequence of a scarcity of agency anti-discrimination insurance policies is that some girls drop out of management positions, there’s a rise in office hostility that threatens their psychological and bodily wellbeing, and premature departures grow to be extra prevalent on the firm. Solely when girls really feel secure, revered and heard can upward mobility be achieved.
Ultimate ideas
In terms of assuaging the burden of being “the one one,” we should transcend symbolic gestures and get to the center of lasting and structural inclusion. It at all times begins with addressing our biases, then elevating the voices and significance of the ladies round us. Creating entry to psychological wellness assets and ERGs helps extra girls envision themselves in management and keep there. Present pathways for girls to hunt help when discrimination rears its head. Firms have limitless methods to create safer, extra inclusive areas for girls in management. They only need to be devoted to the work and imagine within the mission of making house for girls to steer.
