This might come as a shock to you -or it might not- , but of the Fortune 500 companies, there are 24 companies that had a female CEO in 2014. This means that only 4,8% of these 500 American companies have a woman as CEO. This is fairly little, yes. But let us look at the history behind it.
In 1998 only one company on the famous list had a female CEO, as times moved on and people's rationale became more open towards women in the businessworld, this amount slightly rose. In 2014, there were 24 companies that had a female CEO, which is a significant upward rise in only 16 years time.
While the fact that the amount of female Fortune 500 CEO's is uprising is good news, we must keep in mind that this small percentage is still in shrill contrast with the amount of female employees in these companies. Women make up almost half of the work force (45%) in these 500 companies, while only a small amount of them is able to make their way to the top. Following pyramid graph makes this division of women in the organizational structure more clear. It is very clear that the higher we are on the organizational ladder, the fewer women are present.
How can it be that in a world full of powerful women like Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde, Oprah Winfrey and so much others, there can still be a certain stigma concerning leadership by women?
Could it maybe be that people still expect women to be the number one caretaker for the kids? Let's face it, when a child is sick at school, the teacher is most likely to call the mother instead of the father. Women are associated with natural caregivers, which they are by nature. But this should not stand in their way of being ambitious and pursuing a busy career.
Or is it maybe because women are inherently more emotional than men, and men can be more 'cold' when necessary on the work floor? Here, I think it is important to take into account two important notes. First, as the years go by, we see that women and men do not act like the way they have been stereotyped for ages. Some women are not afraid to show their though side, just like more and more men are applauded for showing their more 'soft' side. Secondly, there is no 'one way' to be a good leader. While some leaders might gain respect with some employees by being a cold-blooded workhorse not taking others into account, other leaders might be praised for their empathic leadership-style. These are extreme cases of course, just to show that there is no one perfect leadership style.
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