Untold Women CEO Stories - the data behind why!
Now is more important than ever to tell Women CEO stories - here’s why…
The start of 2023 was full of promise for the Woman CEO. For the first time in history, the number of Fortune 500 businesses led by female CEOs crossed 10%. If that percentage seems meagre to you, prepare to be disappointed further - 2024 has seen that statistic stagnate. But hey, at least women CEOs finally outnumber the amount of CEOs named John.
Sarcastic comments aside, this speaks volumes about a persisting issue in business: a lack of female representation at the top. Now, as any founder or CEO will tell you, reaching the executive suite is not a smooth ride and takes extreme dedication, adaptability and perseverance. But these attributes are not exclusively male, and the additional hurdles women must still face to succeed at the highest levels of leadership are more disruptive than meets the eye.
Where’s the money?
Women make for incredibly successful leaders in business. In fact, businesses founded by women deliver more than twice as much per dollar invested than those founded by men. Female-owned firms also improve company performance and create jobs more than their male counterparts. But when you look at the current funding landscape - that golden ticket into startup success - you see a sorry story for women.
Recent PitchBook data reveals that female-founded companies secured just 17% of total venture capital at the start of this year - a significant drop from the still paltry 28% of total venture capital they raised at the start of 2023. What’s more, startups with all-women founding teams have received just 2% of total venture capital funding each year for the past four years - and that’s despite the overall capital allocated to U.S. startups hitting record highs.
It’s easy to drown in data, so let’s simplify things: if women create more profitable and high-performing companies, then why are they not being given the means to do so? This investment gap is just one panel of a big glass ceiling that female leaders are collectively stuck under. But the cracks are showing, perhaps no more so than in one of the most fundamental questions in business: what makes a good leader?
Leading like a Woman
If you asked any Tom, Dick or Harry twenty years ago “what makes a good leader?”, you’d likely get an answer along the lines of: powerful, confident, assertive, dominant. The additional, silent implication of these characteristics, as the idiom suggests, is male.
Fast forward to our post-pandemic society and this “think manager-think male” mindset feels just a touch outdated. Covid threw into stark relief what leadership was desperately lacking: compassion, empathy, humility, agility. In research published by Harvard Business Review, female leaders were found to have all of these skills, and then some. Overall, women surpassed men in 17 out of 19 total leadership capabilities.
Yet gender-based stereotypes continue to inhibit women founders and CEOs. Self-doubt, imposter syndrome and low confidence are all too common side effects for women still trying to fit into a male-shaped leadership box. And without a wealth of role models to learn from, the chances of more women recognising their inherent worth - of seeing that they are more than good enough to found their own business and run their own company without having to “man up” - remain slim.
Your story matters
This is where sharing Women CEO stories comes in. To move the needle on women succeeding in business, we must not only see women at the top, we must hear from them too.
Each female leadership story is a treasure trove of challenges faced, lessons learnt, battles won. It is vital that these are shared far and wide, so that the next wave of budding female founders and CEOs can carve the way to a more equitable future in business. Not only that, but in female leaders sharing their stories, they have the chance to take a step back and reflect, to see just how far they have come and revel in their success.
So, what story will you tell?
Written by Alice Rowe
